Dead Man's Blood
by Deansgirl95
Summary: Avoiding Dean for over a month after almost succumbing to her desire for him, Rachel runs into him again in the last place she wanted to see him. He'll have to wait though, b/c shes out for revenge. But does she have any more strength to deny him again?
1. Chapter 1

Dean and Sam Winchester sat in the diner by the window. The early afternoon sunshine streaming through the pane and making the newspaper Dean was looking through almost too bright to look at. Sam sat across from him with his lap top open. They were both hard at work looking for their next job.

"Alright, dude, not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. What do you got?" Dean said to his brother, closing the newspaper and picking up his still steaming cup of black coffee.

Sam took a deep breath before answering. Sounding just as frustrated as Dean felt.

"Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here – a woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an airplane and survived." Sam said with a glimmer of hope in his brown eyes.

Dean thought about it for a moment.

"That sounds more like 'That's Incredible' than 'Twilight Zone'" He said.

Sam's shoulders slouched with visible disappointment as he gave a half hearted "Yeah." before looking back to his computer screen and resuming typing.

Dean's heart went out to his little brother. He knew why Sam was so gloomy and it had nothing to do with having nothing to hunt. So even though Dean had promised himself he was going to go easy on Sam as far as females went, he took a chance and threw a branch out to see if Sam would bite.

"Hey, you know, we could just keep heading east. New York, upstate. Could stop by and see Sarah again, huh?"

Dean was speaking of an auctioneers daughter they had met and helped to save during a hunt about a month ago. Sam had taken a fancy to her and she to him. Dean hadn't seen Sam so content with a girl since the one and only time he had seen Sam with Jessica when he'd broken into their apartment to recruit Sam in the search for their father.

"She's a cool chick, man. Smokin'" Dean continued with a little whistle. He recalled Sarah's long dark hair and it reminded him of another girl with long dark hair. But before his mind could wander to her fully and take his concentration, he directed his thoughts to Sam again. "You two seem pretty friendly. What do you say?"

Sam didn't seem to be paying attention. He didn't even look at Dean but rather kept his eyes on the computer as he answered

"Yeah, I don't know. Maybe someday. But in the mean time, we got a lot of work to do, Dean. And you know that." Sam said. Completely flattening Dean's attempt to lure him to a better frame of mind.

Feeling bad for his brother, and now thinking of bright green eyes to go along with long dark hair, Dean allowed Sam to change the subject.

"Yeah, you're right. What else you got?"

"Uh, man in Colorado, local man by the name of Daniel Elkins, was found mauled in his home." Sam said.

Dean's mind buzzed at the mention of "Elkins." Taking his mind from Rachel altogether as he sought to place it.

"Elkins. I know that name." Dean said with a frown.

Sam shook his head and shrugged "Doesn''t ring a bell. Sounds like the police don't know what to think."

As Sam spoke, on a gut instinct, Dean reached into the pocket of his worn leather jacket, which hung from the back of his chair. He pulled out the leather bound journal that belonged to their father and started leafing through the pages till he found what he was looking for. _Bingo. _Dean thought.

"Here, check it out." Dean said, turning the book to face his brother and pointing to the entry on the top of the page which read "D. Elkins." Under which read a phone number.

Sam took the book and looked at the entry with a frown.

"You think it's the same Elkins?" He asked looking back up at Dean.

"It's a Colorado area code." Dean informed him.

The brothers looked at each other for a moment, then began to pack their things. Dean asked for the check and just as simply as that, with out words, they made the decision to head out to Colorado.

Colorado was just one state to the southwest so it would only take them a few hours to reach Elkin's cabin. Sam decided that a nap was in order about an hour into the journey so Dean was left to his own thoughts with just some music and the mostly deserted highway to keep him company.

He wasn't thinking about much until one song ended and another started. The song just happened to be "Mustang Sally." which sent his thoughts directly to Rachel.

Had it been just 5 weeks ago he would have fished his cell phone out of his pocket, dialed her number, waited for her to answer and just simply held the phone to the speaker so that she could hear the song that Dean teased her with all the time.

She would know it was him and after he was done letting her listen to the chorus of "Mustang Sally...gotta slow your Mustang down..." he would have hung up.

She most likely would have called him later that night to tell him off for interrupting her with such a stupid phone call when she was in the middle of pretending to be a FBI agent to get a lab report.

But he couldn't do that now. The last time they had met they had almost wound up making love. Almost.

She had left just before he could start taking her clothes off as if his touch was painful to her. He knew that it wasn't. He knew that she wanted him as bad as he wanted her but her self-imposed living death as punishment for failing to save her sister from drowning kept her from allowing herself what she wanted.

As a result, she called him less and tried to keep a wide berth to any area that Sam and Dean were in to avoid an accidental meet up. To say it plainly: she was avoiding him.

And Dean was ok with that...She was just a chick. What did he care?

_Then why are you always thinking of her? _He asked himself.

He wanted to believe it was because she was still a conquest he needed to complete. He'd never had a problem getting any girl he wanted for the most part so of course he would think about the one that kept getting away. Right?

Right. That was it. He just thought about her alot because he was yet to get her. No big deal.

Even as he deduced this all in his head, a part of him knew he was bullshitting himself. At least to some extent. He was sure that his explanation was part of it but then why did he think about her laugh more then the way her jeans hugged the curves of her hips? Why did he think about the color of her eyes more then how hot she looked in a tight sweater? Why did he think about just running his fingers through her long black hair more then tugging on it as he kissed her roughly?

Not wanting to think about it anymore he turned off the radio and focused on Sam's deep breathing and occasional light snore. He would not admit it at the time, but deep down he knew that he had turned off the radio more because it made him miss her more then he cared to admit.

Night had fallen by the time they pulled up to the snow covered cabin that Daniel Elkins had died in. Police tape covered the door frame, but Sam pulled it off before Dean jimmied his lock pick into the key hole.

The door swung open. The Winchester brothers turned on their flashlights and headed inside.

The cabin was rustic with dark wood and natural prints every where. It would have been a nice place had it not been for the over turned furniture, broken lamps and various other debris strewn every where.

"The place is a mess." Sam said, noticing something by the door and bending to investigate. Dean Headed further in and turned into the first door way he came to.

Looked like the remnants of was could have been a very nice den at one point. He swung his flashlight to the left and the right, revealing more broken furniture.

"Looks like the maid didn't come today." He said to himself.

There was a table laden with papers immediately on his right. He noticed a leather bound book that looked alot like his fathers journal. He reached for it as Sam spoke from the foyer.

"Hey, there's salt over here. Right inside the door."

Dean heard what his brother had said but his thoughts were becoming more engrossed in what he had just found.

"You mean like protection-against-demon salt, or, uh, 'oops, I spilled the popcorn' salt?" Dean asked his brother.

"It's clearly a ring. You think this guy Elkins was a player?" Sam asked.

Dean flipped a few pages into the book and was shocked at what he'd found.

"Definitely." He answered.

Sam came over and peered over Dean's shoulder to see the book. Dean flipped a few more pages and revealed things like the instruction for a Devil's Trap, a diagram of where to place the items of a certain kind of Gris-Gris bag and 4 entire pages of hand written exorcism rites.

"That looks a hell of a lot like Dad's." Sam said.

"Except this dates back to the 60's." Dean said.

They skimmed through a few more pages. But were startled by a loud "HEY!" that came from the foyer.

Sam and Dean looked down the hall toward the sound and where met with a flashlight shining into their eyes, which they both squinted against.

The bearer of the flashlight also held a gun that was pointed right at them. Both the brothers threw up their hands.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The voice asked angrily.

The sound was very familiar to Dean. He knew that voice.

"Please. Don't shoot." Sam said.

"Sam?" The voice said.

Shocked into silence, neither Sam nor Dean said a word as the person with the gun lowered it and reached for the light switch on the wall. They flicked it up and the track lighting along the walls lit up the hall way.

Dean's heart beat a little quicker at the sight the light revealed. Standing there in a brown leather jacket, jeans and a black sweater was Rachel staring at them in shock.

"Rachel?" Sam asked.

She caught Dean's eye and held it for a moment. He could almost see her breath being held at the sight of him. Probably the last person she wanted to see was standing right in front of her.

Dean couldn't help but think about the last time he'd looked into those eyes. It was just before he had kissed her hard and pinned her body against a wall with his own while she dug her nails into his shoulder.

He noticed the little head shake she gave just before taking her eyes from him and the slight stumble in her words when she spoke. Had she been thinking about the same thing just now?

"Wh-what the Hell are you guys doing here?" She asked.

"We found Elkin's obit and story." Dean explained. "We think he may have known our dad so we came to check it out."

She moved closed the distance between them and had a slight frown on her face as she processed the information.

"Your dad? You think they knew each other?" She asked.

"Yeah, maybe. What are you doing here, Rach?" Sam asked.

She didn't answer his question. She was looking at the floor with her brow furrowed as if trying to remember something.

"No. It can't be. I would have known that." She said.

Sam and Dean looked at one another, puzzled.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked her.

"I'm saying that I don't think he knew your dad. I never heard him mention him. Not once. He talked about a lot of hunters but your father was definitely NOT one of them. I'm sure of it." She said.

"Wait...You knew Elkins?" Sam asked.

She straightened her shoulders a bit and looked Sam directly in the eye. As if proud of the answer to his question.

"You can say that." She said.

"So that's why your here? Because you knew Daniel Elkins?" Dean asked.

"I've been here for the last few days trying to get in here. The police just finished with the place and they wouldn't let me in until they were done." She said.

Now it was Dean's turn to frown.

"So why didn't you just break in like on any other hunt? Why wait for the police to give you the OK?"

"Because I had to. I couldn't do things like I would usually do them here. I'll take that by the way." She said. Indicating the journal that Dean held in his hand. "That rightfully belongs to me now. I was hoping the police wouldn't touch it."

Dean handed it to her, still as confused as ever. She took it gently, as if she cherished it.

"What do you mean it belongs to you now?" Sam asked.

Rachel slipped the journal into her pocket and looked at the taller Winchester.

"I mean that it get's passed on to me now as the only hunter left in his family." Rachel explained. "Daniel Elkins was my Grandfather."


	2. Chapter 2

The boys reacted well to the news that the house they had just broken into was a relative of Rachel's. And it was only after speaking to them for a few moments about how they had read about her grandfather and found his name is their fathers journal that she was actually a little glad they were here.

When Rachel had gotten the phone call from her mother she had ignored it as usual. When she'd heard the tearful message that was left she wished she had chosen that moment to give into the ever growing urge to answer it and start healing with her family again.

The message was simple, delivered in her mothers deep toned southern drawl: "Rachel Kathleen, it's Mom honey." Rachel knew it was urgent the moment she heard her middle name. Mom never used it unless she meant business. She went on to say that her father had been killed. The police weren't sure what was going on yet but could Rachel please go to Colorado (The original home of the O'Connors and the Elkins's) and handle the details and deal with the police. Mom was very sorry to put this on her, but the ever growing death toll of her family was too much for her mother to bear.

Rachel didn't need to call back and let her mother know she would do it. Mom knew that she would.

And so here she was. She'd been here 3 days and had spoken to all the cops involved. None of them seemed to have a definite answer as to what had killed her grandfather. According to the coroner, it seemed that death was due to a major loss of blood. But they hadn't allowed her to see the body and the cops wouldn't tell her if he'd had any wounds that would warrant a bleed out.

So all of it pointed to one thing: The cops and the morgue were clueless and confused. She'd been told only 2 hours ago that they were done with Papa's cabin and that she could go in. And what does she find when she does? Sam and Dean Winchester.

At first, the sight of Dean had put a pit in her stomach. She'd almost made love to him last time she'd seen him. Like they'd wanted to for so long now. After she'd made her escape, she'd decided that the best thing to do was finally listen to herself and stay away from him. So she'd been ignoring him for weeks now. He knew that she'd been ignoring him.

The pit subsided when she realized that this moment that she'd been dreading, coming here to her grandfathers house to see where he'd been murdered, didn't have to be on her own. Dean's demeanor when they spoke in the hall made her believe that he understood that this was more important then being angry at her. What ever was going on between them would be put on the back burner for the moment to handel this. She got the air of "but don't think I forgot about it though." from him. Which was fine. She knew they would have to speak about it eventually, but for the moment she was silently thankful to him.

She was just as comforted by Sam's presents. The younger Winchester was the softer of the two. The more compassionate one, the one with more empathy. She even ventured to think that if Dean's wasn't here at all that she would probably feel comfortable enough to cry around Sam. She knew that'd he'd have a hug and some soothing words for her.

But now wasn't the time to get emotional. She'd cried in her car on the road to Colorado and she'd been crying in her bed for the last 3 nights thinking about the fact that her beloved Papa was gone. The sadness had turned to anger at this point. And she knew that it was only a matter of time, after she figured out what she was looking for, that the anger would turn to rage.

When the ghost of the little girl killed Kellie in the lake, the sadness and shock of her sisters death had quickly turned to a ferocious need to destroy the thing. Rachel had found a way not only to get rid of the spirit, but to make it suffer first.

Rachel felt that fire begin when she realized that the police where confused about her grandfathers death. That only meant one thing: Something unnatural had ended Daniel Elkin's. So the police would be no help, she would have to handle this herself.

So it was with that notion, and her's and Dean's silent temporary truce, that all three of them began moving through the cabin to find clues of what had happened to her grandfather.

Rachel led the way into the study. "It was in here that the police said the mail carrier found him." Rachel said, turning her flash light into the dark room. "The man was a friend of his. He hadn't seen him for 3 days, so he let himself in to make sure he was ok."

Rachel reached for the light switch and hesitated before flipping it. This was the room her grandfather had died in and she was about to flood it with light. Before the guys could sense her hesitation she flipped the switch.

The room, like the rest of the house so far, was a wreck. Over turned furniture torn curtains, broken glass every where. Rachel was mindful of where she stepped as she proceeded across the threshold. She was thankful that the Winchesters showed the same respect as they followed her in.

"Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one." Sam said and motioned to the skylight. Rachel looked up and saw that the whole span of it, the entire right half of the ceiling, was shattered. _That explains the broken glass everywhere. _Rachel thought.

"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight, too." She heard Dean say behind her.

Rachel stood in the middle of the room and took it all in. To her left she saw the only piece of furniture not broken, which was the coffee table next to the ruined couch. On the table stood a single picture frame, which Rachel picked up. In the photo in the frame she saw her 10 year old self being held tight by her grandfather. They were both smiling from ear to ear for the camera.

_Oh, Papa. _Rachel thought. Her heart squeezing painfully in her chest at the thought of never seeing him again. _I'm going to find what did this to you and hurt them bad, Papa. I promise. _

She fought the urge to hug the picture close to her. Daniel Elkins was probably the kindest person she would ever know. She'd loved him so dearly and right at that moment her loss was too much to bear. Before she could let it get a hold of her, she reminded her self that she had work to do. So she put the picture down and turned around to explore the rest of the room.

She switch to hunter mode and scanned the the room in one quick glance. Sam was sorting through some papers on the desk and Dean was crouching down eyeing something on the floor.

An empty wooden case caught Rachel's attention and she bent over to pick it up. Heavy. Made of mahogany perhaps. The cut out indentation was that of a gun and the smaller notched cut outs below were in the shape of bullets. Confused, she drew her brown together.

"What is it Rach?" Sam asked.

She looked up. Not sure what to make of the empty case.

"Nothing really. Just...this seems out of place here." She said, tilting the case so that Sam could see it.

"Why's that?" Sam said stooping next to her.

"This held a revolver. Papa wasn't into stuff like this. He was more of the shotgun type." She said motioning to the gun case along the wall where, even though the glass had been shattered out of it, every single one of the dozen or so long barreled gun hung precisely where they should. "And they didn't take any of those."

Before she could say anything else, she noticed that Sam's attention was now turned to Dean, who was still very closely examining the floor just beyond the thrown rug.

"Got something?" Sam asked him.

"I don't know. Some scratches in the floor." Dean said.

Rachel and Sam both stood and walked to where Dean crouched. Rachel was horrified to see blood on the floor next to the scratches that Dean was looking at but she pushed the bile rising in her throat down before it could overwhelm her.

"Death throws maybe?" Sam asked.

"Maybe." Dean answered without looking up.

Dean reached up and took a piece of paper from the desk along with a pencil. He placed the paper over the scratches on the floor and did a rubbing with the lead of the pencil. After he was done he picked up the paper and examined it.

"Or maybe a message." He handed the paper to Sam so that he and Rachel could both look at it. "Look familiar?"

Rachel was about to say 'no' when Sam answered.

"Three letters, six digits – the location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop."

"Just the way Dad does it." Dean said.

"Wait a minute. Explain this to me please. I have no idea what you guys are talking about." Rachel said.

Dean rose to his full height again and explained to her that before text messaging the older hunters used mail drops to communicate with each other, and that he'd seen his father do this many times with his hunter friends pastor Jim and some one name Caleb.

"So you think my grandfather left a message for someone in this P.O. box?" She asked.

"Only 1 way to find out." Dean said.


	3. Chapter 3

Rachel, Dean and Sam stood at the post office box as Rachel punched in the combination. She heard the lock give way with a soft but audible 'click'. Turning the handle, she pulled the small door forward and bent over to peek into the dark box.

Inside lay 2 white envelopes. The one in the front read "My Family" on it in Papa's handwriting. She pulled it out and held it in her hands as she thought about what the words meant.

"No one in particular. Just "My Family"." She said, looking up.

"Well, your his family." Sam said with soft, puppy dog eyes and a gentle voice. "You should open it."

Dean peered into the box and pulled out the other envelope. He looked at it and frowned.

"What it is?" Sam asked.

Dean turned it around so they could see the front. The letters J.W. were written there. Also in Papa's handwriting.

Before they could say another word to each other, 2 men walked in and began chatting with the postal worker behind the counter. Obviously friends of his.

They were within earshot and too close for Rachel's comfort. Apparently they were too close for Dean's as well.

"Let's get out of here." He said.

The three of them moved out into the deserted street where Rachel looked down at the envelope once again. With out too much more thought she opened it and began to read. Sam and Dean spoke amongst themselves as she did. Trying to decide if the J.W. was their father.

Papa's note was short and to the point. it read sort of like a last will and testament, it said that whoever was reading this note, that he loved them, to please make sure that Rachel got his journal, where the deed to his house could be found and declared that it now belonged to her mother.

But the most important thing was to get the other note that accompanied this one, to John Winchester as soon as possible.

A single tear rolled from her eye as she read the last line: _My work here's done. I'll give all who went before me your love as we wait to be together again. Love, Daddy for my little girl. _

_Love, Papa for my Rachel. _

" "J.W." You think? John Winchester?" Sam asked his brother.

"I don't know. Should we open it?" Dean said.

"It's for your father." Rachel said wiping the tear from her cheek, folding the paper and looking up at them. "My note says that it's very important that he get it."

"Well, good thing I'm here to get it then." A deep, raspy voice said behind Rachel.

She turned around and looked up at a tall, handsome man wearing a leather coat. He had dark hair and a full, neatly trimmed beard.

His eyes were the same hazel-green as Dean's and Rachel knew this was John Winchester even before his son spoke.

"Dad?" Dean said.

John looked away from her to look at him. "Hey boys."

"Dad, what are you doing here? Are you alright?" Sam said in shock, moving toward his father and embracing him. Sam was still the tallest Winchester, but his father gave him more of a run for his money then his brother did.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I read the news about Daniel. I got here as fast as I could. I saw you up at his place. May I ask who you are little lady?" John said, turning his attention back to Rachel.

"You can ask." She said. Her instincts telling her to put her guard up."Not sure I'll give you an answer though."

John's back got a little stiffer. Not with authority, but with what she would imagine was amusement because it was accompanied with a slight upturn of the corner of his mouth.

"Ok. You don't have to tell me." He had such a deep tone to his voice, yet he was somehow soft spoken if that was possible. "But you look like Daniel. So I'm gonna go out on a limb and say your kin."

She relaxed a bit. Not sure why. "He was my Grandfather." She told him.

She wasn't sure if she'd imagined the little glint that came to his eye just then. He took a deep breath and let it out before he spoke again.

"Your one of Jimmy's girls." It wasn't a question. His eyes softened then and he looked at her with what she would imagine was sadness.

"James O'Conner was my father, yes." She said. "My name's Rachel."

"Hello, Rachel." He said. "You already know my boys, I see."

"Yeah. For a while now actually." Dean answered as he and Rachel exchanged glances.

"Wait, so you knew Elkins, Dad?" Sam asked his father.

"Yeah. He was... he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting." John said.

"You never mentioned him to us." Dean said.

"And he never mentioned you." Rachel said with a slight clip to her voice. She didn't like this whole situation at all. His children had been looking for him for the better part of a year with no luck but here he was popping up at the moment of her grandfathers death? Something wasn't right here.

John looked at the floor, obviously this was a touchy subject for him.

"We had a – we had kind of a falling out. I hadn't seen him in years." Was his answer.

"So then why is he leaving you letters in the same P.O. box that he leaves letters to his family John?" Rachel asked harshly, holding her opened letter up for him to see. "What do you know about what happened to him?"

John looked stricken for a moment at her hint of accusation. She knew she was being disrespectful to him and she should wait to hear everything he had to say before she ran her mouth, but the anger bubbled up in her at the thought of him being in a better place, knowledge wise, then her about her own grandfathers murder. She wanted answers and she had a feeling John Winchester had them.

"I want to find out as much as you do, Rachel." John answered. "No matter what happened between me and your granddaddy, I'm still very upset over his death. Dean, let me look at that."

He reached out his hand and Dean placed the envelope that had accompanied the letter to Rachel. They all waited in silence as John ripped it open and read it to himself silently.

Rachel watched as his eyes scanned the letter, his lips moving slightly to form the words as he read. When he got to the end his eyes widened a bit and his demeanor got slightly more frazzled then it had been a moment ago.

"He had it the whole time." John said, more to himself then to them.

"Dad what?" Sam asked. John ignored the question and posed one of his own to all three of them.

"When you searched the place did you – did you see a gun, an antique, a Colt revolver? Did you see it?"

Rachel's mind flashed back to her and Sam crouching over the empty case and how odd it had struck her it being there at all.

"There was an old case but it was empty." She told John. She watched as something clicked inside the older hunter. If he had been slightly more frazzled a moment ago, now he took and an air of panic.

"They have it." He said with a slight slump of his shoulders.

"You mean whatever killed Elkins?" Dean asked.

Once again, John ignored the question. Rachel could almost see synapses firing in his brain as he calculated what their next move was. He made it evident to them in the next sentence.

"We got to pick up their trail." He said and walked past them hurriedly to get to his truck.

Dean, Rachel and Sam all looked at one another questioningly. It was Sam that spoke before his father could get too far away.

"Wait, you want us to come with you?"

John turned to face the three of them again. His voice still mellow and deep, but his words quicker with urgency.

"If Elkins was telling the truth we got to find this gun." He said.

"Screw the gun!" Rachel said. Angry now. All three Winchester men looked at her. "I don't give a crap why this gun is important to you or why it was to him. All I want to know is what did this to him so I can go after it."

"Rachel, trust me. This gun is important." He said. "Daniel despised the things that took it and if he were alive the last thing he would want is for them or anything like them to have it."

It clicked in Rachel just then. John looked at her and she knew he saw it in her eyes that she had made the connection.

_Of course. _Rachel thought. _I can't believe that it didn't think of it before. _As impossible as it might sound, she knew just then what had killed her grandfather and what it was that she was after.

"Dad, we don't even know what these things are yet." Sam said from behind Rachel, still as ignorant as she had been a moment ago.

"They were what Danny Elkins killed best." John said to his son with out taking his eyes from Rachel's.

Silence hung in the air for a moment before Rachel could bring herself to say the word.

"Vampires." Rachel finally voiced.

Another moment of silence as the boys took it in.

"Vampires?" Dean said, stepping forward next to Rachel. "I thought there was no such thing?"

"You never even mentioned them, Dad." Sam said.

"I thought they were extinct. I had thought Elkins and others had wiped them out." John said to his boys. But then turned his attention back to Rachel. "I was wrong."

Rachel let it all sink in. When it did, she didn't doubt it for a moment. It all fit too perfectly: He was drained of blood and the house had been torn apart like they'd had a personal vendetta against him.

And well they should, Pappa had been one of the best vamp hunters in the country in his hay day. Their whole line as far back as they could track had been vampire hunters.

He hadn't killed them all. And deep inside she knew that the ones that had finally ended him where ones that he'd tracked in his youth. They had waited for him to be old and withered before they came for him.

But it was all ok, even though he had been too frail to fight them like he once had, they didn't know that he'd left behind a young, healthy, revenge crazed granddaughter who, even though she'd never hunted one, had vampire hunter in her blood.

She knew now what she was after and that filled her with a little more peace then she'd had at the start of all this. She was after Vampires and she wasn't going to stop until every single one of them were nothing but smoldering ash at her feet.

She guessed the Winchesters could help if they liked. Either way, she was on a Vampire hunt.


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as it had become evident that were, in fact, hunting vampires, Rachel began walking to her car with out saying a word. When Dean called out to her to ask where she was going, she said simply that she had work to do. She didn't even give him the benefit of a glance over her shoulder.

"By yourself? Rachel hang on a second." Dean called.

She ignored him completely and kept walking. Determination in each of her steps.

"You gonna go after her or what?" Dad asked. A hint of annoyance in his voice.

Dean was walking before Dad' d finished talking. With a few long strides he closed the gap between then and placed his hand on her shoulder to stop her momentum. For good measure he stepped in front of her, blocking her path and forcing her to stop.

"Hey, hang on a second, will ya?" He said looking with a little chuckle.

"I don't have a second, Dean. I have to move, I can't lose them." She tried to side step him but he moved with her, making himself her road block once again. She looked up at him with annoyance and he could tell that she was pulling on every bit of her frazzled patience at the moment to deal with him.

"Rachel, you can't do this by yourself. It's suicide." Dean said. "Let's take this like any other hunt we've worked together before."

"This is not some regular hunt, Dean." She said, vehemently. "This is not something we picked up in the papers randomly, These things killed my family!"

Her voice strained with anguish. He looked down into her impossibly green eyes, saw her pain and he felt his heart swell for her.

"I know. But think about this just for a minute." He said, knowing that backing down and letting her take on these things blinded and clouded by her loss wasn't something he could do. "You've never gone after a vampire before, you don't know what your up against."

"I have his journal, I can handle it." She said, her tone cold and hard.

"Ok, you have his journal, but your going Kamikaze right now, your so angry. Your not going to do your grandfather any good by rushing in and getting yourself killed. C'mon Rachel, your smarter then this." He pled.

They stared at each other for a moment. She took a deep breath and let it out. Letting him know with her body language that she was listening but he had a very short amount time before she wasn't anymore.

"Now, you could do this one of 2 ways." Dean said. "You can go in there all vigilante and wind up dead. Simple as that. Or, you can do what I know your capable of doing and that's taking advantage of all you've got in you arsenal right now. Which is your grandfathers journal," Dean counted on his fingers as he continued. "Me, Sam and our dad who's been hunting since we're snot nosed kids."

Her face hardened again at the mention of Dad.

"Oh yeah. Right. The only thing he cares about his that gun they stole, Dean. He doesn't give a shit about my grandfather." She spat.

"Ok. Ok, he's got his own agenda. I'll give you that." Dean said, trying to relax her again. "But what ever his reasons are, he wants to go after them just as much as you do. And as a hunter he wants them dead just as bad."

Her face not only softened but her eyes as well. He was getting through to her. "You don't have to do this alone Rachel." He said.

She stared up at him with glassy eyes. Silence hung between them and in it Dean once again cursed himself for letting her pain effect him as much as it did right at that second. He wanted these bastards dead for her. If it meant taking the pain he knew she felt, he would kill them all himself.

"Let me help you." He said gently to her.

She didn't say anything else, but her knew that from that moment they were on the hunt together again.

Back at Daniel's cabin, the four of them had just finished putting the den back to rights some what. There were 2 couches, 2 very large armchairs and a fully padded and insulated window seat as well as a desk and 4 cabinets full of Daniel's work for the last 5 decades. This would be there base and where they would rest while waiting for the vamps to make the move that would lead them to the nest.

Dean watched Rachel as she went through Daniel's broken things. She hid it well but he knew that she must be torn up inside. He'd see her linger over a coffee mug or a hunting knife or a piece of paper with some of his scribbling on it. He watch as she took in the last days of his life those little thing told the story of.. That mug with a little remnant of the Columbian blend he favored, or the hunting knife that maybe she'd given him for a birthday that he never left without or the note he'd penned to himself to remind him of an errand he needed to run.

Dean tried to respect the things that he touched for her. But he found that the more lightly he treaded on the fallen hunters things the more he did it out of respect for the man he hadn't even known and less for his granddaughter.

All who hunt think that this might be the same end for them. A monster that finally got the best of YOU instead of the other way around. Dean realized that in a world where their kind were ghosts among the living that no one would really know or appreciate Daniel for what he really was. The thought saddened him and for a moment he mourned Daniel as much as Rachel did.

At one point Sam and Dad had gone out to the cars to get their supplies while Dean and Rachel finished sweeping and bagging the last of the debris which would make the room inhabitable again. Rachel was sitting on her haunches with her back turned to him, gazing down at a broken picture frame.

Dean went over to her, sat Indian style next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder gently.

She looked at him and smiled slightly before looking back down at the frame.

Under the cracked glass he saw an 8 X 10 photo of 3 people sitting on a couch that looked very much like the one he and Sam had just tuned back over a few minutes ago. It showed a handsome man in his 30's with black hair sitting next to an older balding man in a plaid shirt. Sitting on the younger man's lap was a little girl of about 6 or 7 with the blondest hair he'd ever seen. All three where smiling at the camera. Dean knew who they were without having to be told. It was her father James, her sister Kelly and Daniel. All three now slain to the monster's they hunted.

"You look a lot like your dad." Dean said softly.

Rachel smiled and answered him a tone just as soft. "Every one say's that."

"You gonna be ok?" Dean asked her.

She was silent. She took a deep breath and let it out before answering. "Yeah. I'll be fine. I have to be, it's just-..."

Dean waited for her to answer. "Just what?"

"It's just that sometimes I wonder what the fuck the point is." She said. looking up and shaking her head. "Why the Hell do we do this when it cost's us so much?"

She looked at him then and he could see her eyes swimming with unshed tears. He knew that a torrent of emotion was coming and he braced himself for it for her sake.

"My Dad, Kelly, Papa...Your mom." She shook her head. "Why do we do this if we can't save the one's we love the most?"

"Because someone has to Rach." Dean answered. "Some one has to make these sacrifices. Your dad, Kelly and your grandfather knew that."

"Your mom then?" She asked with a bit of passion. "Your mom wasn't a hunter, she was an innocent woman sleeping in her bed. Sam's girlfriend? They knew nothing, so why them?"

Dean felt his soul twist inside at seeing her so mentally torn. He kept his answer honest none the less.

"Because sometimes our kind has to be made." Dean said.

"And that's ok with you?" She asked. A tear escaping her eye and rolling down her cheek. "That's why your ok with your mother having been burned alive on a ceiling?"

"No. It's not ok and it never will be. But all I can do is be what her death made me and take down as many of the sons-a-bitches I can along the way." He said. "The same way your going to keep hunting until you die like they did. Because you can't not be what you are no matter what the price."

He and Rachel locked gazes. She wiped the tear from her eye and began disassembling the ruined picture frame, being careful not to cut herself on the glass.

"Your right." She said. "But some times even the ones that are left behind might as well be dead. Kelly's gone more then a year now and I haven't been able to face my mother."

"Well then how about letting your grandfather teach your one last thing." Dean said. "And that's not wasting time with the ones that are still here because they could be gone just as quickly as he was?"

Rachel gave a little laugh. "My mother would never hunt. She knows what at stake."

"I'm not talking about her dying Rachel. Your the hunter, you could be killed before the sun comes up." Dean said.

Rachel looked at him. Her eyes were red and swollen just a bit. She looked beautiful when she cried and Dean had to fight the urge to embrace her just then. He turned to humor like he usually did.

"Hell, if I hadn't halted your ass you'd be vampire chow as we speak." He gave her the biggest smile he could manage. She accepted it with a laugh of her own.

"Thanks for that by the way." She said.

"No thank you!" He said.

She frowned at him with a tilt of her head.

"If you had insisted on going around me I'm not sure what I could have done to stop you. You would have got all mad and I would have tried force and then you would have kicked my ass and my dad and Sam would have had to scrape me off the side walk." He said.

She laughed. In that instant Dean was reminded of how they had been before she'd tried to cut ties with him. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed her.

"You think it's funny?" Dean widened in eyes in mock horror at her. "I'm very well aware of the fact that you can lay me out. I'm not delusional in the least about it."

They both laughed then and Dean found that he was so happy to have alleviated her pain for the moment. He drank in her laughter and to his surprise, she put her arms around him and hugged him close. He hugged her back as their laughter died. They embraced for how long, he couldn't say. But when they pulled apart he found himself reassuring her again.

"Everything's going to be ok." As he said the words he brushed a stray piece of her long back hair behind her ear.

She looked into his eyes and he could see her reluctance to lean in and kiss him.

He was glad that the reluctance didn't win. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips softly to his. He kissed her back gently, holding her to him with a hand on the nape of her neck. Her lips tasted just he'd remembered, but this kiss lacked the passion that usually accompanied their stolen moments with each other. This kiss was tender, loving almost. Dean found himself falling into it.

When it was over she pulled away from him slightly to be able to look at him. He could see how torn she was.

"Why do you do this to me?" She asked in a soft voice. He could feel her breath on his face.

He didn;t even think about his answer. It just came from him and he didn't even realize he was speaking until half way through.

"Why do you fight it so much?" He said back in almost a whisper.

They looked at each other for another moment before the front door clanged open and Dad's and Sam's heavy foot steps began down the hall.

Dean and Rachel pulled away from each other hurriedly and Dean stood up as fast as he could. Rachel did the same, taking her picture over to the desk to finish taking it apart.

Dean helped Sam with the three bags he was carrying, glancing over at Rachel, who caught his eye knowingly, for just second before they went about their separate tasks again.

"Ok, so here's the plan." Dad said. "Sam, Dean, start looking through Daniel's files, see if you can find anything useful. Rachel, you should do the same with the journal. I'm gonna hook the police scanner up and listen just in case they decide they need dinner."

They all did what they were told to do. Even Rachel. He was surprised that she went along with Dad without even asking any questions. She must be mentally and physically exhausted.

"We should sharpen some stakes Dad, maybe go out and get some holy water." Dean said.

"Won't do us any good. Most vampire lure is crap." Dad said.

"Yeah, stakes and holy water won't hurt them." Rachel said from behind the desk. "Neither will sunlight or crosses."

"So how do we hurt them? And kill them?" Sam asked.

"Beheading is the only way put them down. So as long as we got some sharp machete's we're in good shape." Dad said.

"Ok, so how do we even know how many we're up against?" Dean asked. Rachel stood up and rounded the desk, reading from her grandfathers journal as she did.

"Vampires nest in groups of eight to ten. Smaller packs are sent out to hunt for food. Victims are taken to the nest, where the pack keeps them alive, bleeding them for days or weeks." She shut the book and made a disgusted face. "Great odds. 8 or 10 of them and four of us. One of these day's I would like to be on a non-handicap side of the fight please."

They all set out to work then, the crackle of the police scanner buzzing in their heads the whole time. After about 2 hours Dean looked over at his father dozing off behind the desk. A quick glance showed Sam sleeping on the bigger couch and Rachel sleeping on the bay window seat, her grandfathers journal open and resting on her chest.

It would get cold by that window he knew. And because he knew no one would see him, he slipped in of Sam's sleeping bags out of his duffle and took it to the seat where Rachel lay. As gently as he could, he placed the long blanket over her legs and half way up her torso, taking note of her evenly spaced breath.

He turned and walked in the direction of the other couch, his intentions that of laying his head down for a few moments as well. As soon as he passed the desk he heard the low tone of his fathers voice. Halting his steps.

"You sure are sweet on this little girl, huh son?" Dad asked.

Dean was too shocked to answer. He never would have done that if he'd known his father was awake and watching him.

"What makes you say that?" Dean asked.

Dad gave him a knowing half smile. "Because I can't see you making sure me or your brother don't get cold in the middle of the night."

Dean didn't bother giving his father a response but instead went to lay on the couch like he'd planned on doing. He felt Dad chuckling inwardly at him the whole time.


	5. Chapter 5

_In Rachel's dream she was walking a few steps behind her father, who was holding Kelly's hand while they walked on a board walk in the full glory of a bright afternoon.  
><em> 

_Kelly was small, maybe 8, her blond ponytail bobbed as she walked, catching the golden rays of the sun and drinking them in. Rachel watched as the two smiled at each other, her fathers dimple made it's appearance with the loving look he gave his youngest daughter. Rachel didn't have to see the other side of his face to know that it had a twin that resided on the other cheek.  
><em> 

_It was only a moment before Rachel realized she was dreaming and this was in fact, not just a dream, but a cherished memory. She looked at her own hand and found exactly what she expected to see, a larger hand grasping her own.  
><em> 

_It was more aged then her own 10 years. She saw calloused knuckles and the beginning of a few age spots. She felt safe in the grasp even before she looked up to see her grandfather.  
><em> 

_He smiled down at her, minus the dimples that blessed his son-in-law, but no less loving and comforting...  
><em> 

_"Ok, every one up! We gotta go. " Rachel heard an unfamiliar voice say before she was pulled from her dream.  
><em> 

Rachel opened her eyes slowly and realized that the voice had been that of John Winchester rousing her and his son's from their sleep. 

It was with a heavy heart that Rachel sat up in the window seat and squinted in the bright glare of the morning sun off of the snow. She was a bit dazed and wanted to still be in her dream with her family, who she would never be with again unless it was in a dream. She tried to stop the tears that stung her eyes as she listened to

Sam question his father about why he'd woken them. 

"Picked up a police call." John said she pulled his jacket off the back of the chair he'd just vacated.

"What happened?" Sam asked. 

Rachel was too bone tired and weary to ask questions and she thanked Sam silently for asking them for her as she saw him and his brother rise from their resting spots on the couches and rub the sleep out of their eyes.

"A couple called 911. They found a body in the street. Cops got there, everyone was missing. It's the vampires." John answered, pulling his jacket on and turning off the police radio. He headed for the door.

"How do you know?" Was Sam's next question.

Annoyed, John turned around and barked at his youngest child.

"Just follow me, okay?" And with that John disappeared out the door. 

Rachel swung her legs off the window seat and stood up. She was too sleep deprived and emotional to do anything but follow the elder hunters lead, so she slipped her shoes on and grabbed her jacket. In a small way she was almost glad to not have to take the lead. But a part of her knew that John Winchester had his own reasons for going after the vamp's, she had to remember that her reasons had to come first.

"Vampires - gets funnier every time I hear it." She heard Dean say. 

She looked over at him and realized that Sam had just followed their father out the door while he and Rachel finished getting ready to brave the snow outside. 

"You ok?" He asked her. 

"Yeah." She said, pulling the collar up on her wool lined denim jacket. "Let so get these fuckers." 

They piled into 3 cars. John in his massive pick-up, Rachel in her white '65 mustang and the boys in their Impala. John took the lead since he was the only one that knew where they were going, Rachel followed him and Sam and Dean took up the rear. 

Alone on the drive, Rachel realized that she'd better get her head in the game if she wanted to survive this whole thing.  
>She'd let John Winchester steal the show for now, but only because she needed him to. He was older, more seasoned and probably knew her grandfather in a way that she would never; as the hunter that he was. He could get her close to the monsters. So for now, he had the spot light.<p>

Sam, Dean and Rachel hung back behind the police line on the county road that the police had barricaded off in order to finish their investigation as to what happened to the couple that called 911. Their abandoned car sat not 20 feet away from the younger hunters. 

Rachel eyed it and felt a wave of sorrow for the poor bastards. But hopefully they could get to them before the vampires killed them or worst, infected them. She glanced at John, he was speaking to uniformed ranger behind the yellow tape.

"I don't see why we couldn't have gone over with him." Sam said. Finally giving voice against the bristled demeanor Rachel had watched build for the last few minutes since his father had told them to stay put while he went to ask what had happened.

"Oh, don't tell me it's already starting." Dean said to his brother, practically rolling his eyes.

"What's starting?" Sam asked with a frown that looked slightly more angry then questioning. 

Before Dean could answer, the eldest Winchester walked back over to them. Rachel hadn't known it just then but she'd just been witness the lighting of Sam's fuse.

"What do you got?" Dean asked.

"It was them, all right. Looks like they're headin' west. We're gonna have to double back to get around that detour." John answered.

"How can you be so sure?" Sam asked just before Rachel could. But with a ton more attitude the Rachel would have.

"Sam-" Dean said warningly to his brother.

"I just wanna know we're goin' in the right direction." Sam barked at Dean before looking over to his father expectantly. 

John all but shot daggers at Sam. But he kept his cool with his next words which were simply "We are."

"How do you know, John?" Rachel asked firmly. She'd be damned if he kept HER in the dark. 

Reluctantly, as if he couldn't believe that he had to answer to the snot nosed brats that she and Sam were, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, white object.

"I found this." He said. 

Rachel took it gingerly from his fingers and placed it in her open palm to get a better look at it. Dean leaned in close to look as well and she cursed how her head lightened from the whiff of leather that came off of him. She forced herself to focus and saw that she held a sharp white tooth in her hand.

"It's a vampire fang." Dean said as he looked back to his father.

"No fangs - teeth. The second set descends when they attack." John explained. 

_Huh_, Rachel thought. _I never would have known that._

John once again set his sights on Sam. 

"Any more questions?" He asked very pointedly. 

Sam remained silent.

"All right, let's get out of here, we're losin' daylight." John said. They all began walking back to their cars when John spoke to Dean again while eyeing the Impala.  
>"Hey, Dean, why don't you touch up your car before you get rust? I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were gonna ruin it."<p>

Rachel saw Sam laugh while Dean just frowned as they got into the car. She was disliking John Winchester more with every second that past.

They drove the majority of the day in any direction that John thought they should. With the exception of a quick stop to grab something they could eat and use the bathroom, they drove endlessly. Rachel wasn't sure what John was looking for and she was getting antsier and antsier by the second. 

From what she could see, Sam was ready to explode and that was part of the reason that she kept her questions and her distance from the elder hunter. She had this intense feeling that Sam was hanging on by a thread and she was afraid that any provocation from her would shatter what ever control he had left when it came to his father and have a massive eruption. 

She didn't care much if they killed each other or if she got caught in it, but she kept her composure for two reasons. One being that Sam and John getting into it would only delay her. The longer she sat in her car, following John and thinking about it all, the more she wanted blood and she wasn't willing to be part of the reason they got away because she'd pushed Sam over the edge. 

The second being that she didn't want to cause Dean a problem. She'd seen him tip toe around Sam and knew that he was dreading what was coming as well because he would be in the middle of it. Like she'd suspected he'd been in the middle of it in the past as well. 

He was probably the lubricant between the grinding joints that were his father and brother and she didn't want to put him in that position again. So she held her tongue, her composure and her temper. But in the end, it seemed that it had been Dean that burst the balloon of Sam. 

The sun had set and it was dark when all of a sudden the Impala raced past her across the double yellow and got ahead of John. She heard the screech of tires and then had to pull hard to the left when John's pick-up came to a very sudden stop in front of her. 

She careened toward the guard rail of the two lane road and stopped a second before she would have crashed into it. She let out an angry curse as she threw the gear into park and stormed from the car. Ready to kill whoever was behind the wheel of the Impala.

She stormed to the front of John's halted pick-up just in time to see a very angry Sam slam the driver's door behind him. 

Dean came from the passenger seat calling after his brother. 

"Oh, shit. Here we go. Sam!" Dean said. 

John was already out of his car and walking just as angrily toward Sam (albeit much more composed)

"What the hell was that?" John asked. His voice low and curt.

"We need to talk." Sam said bluntly.

"About what?" John said in a low tone. 

The two men came nose to nose and Rachel forgot about her anger as she wedged foot between them halting their forward momentum. Sam towered over his father but John didn't seem to be intimidated by his youngest in the least. He set his jaw and waited for Sam's reply.

"About everything. Where we goin', Dad? What's the big deal about this gun?" Sam asked, his voice lowering in tone while heightening in volume just a bit. Dean stood opposite Rachel, also just short of being in between them.

"Sammy, come on, we can Q and A after we kill all the vampires." Dean said placing his hand on Sam's arm and pushing him off just a bit.

"Your brother's right, we don't have time for this." John said. His anger apparent but his composure pulled in so tight that it was almost his lack of anger that was scarier then anything.

Sam ignored them both.

"Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous to be together. Now, out of the blue, you need our help. Now, obviously, something big is goin' down, and we wanna know what!" Sam said. 

What ever this was about had nothing to do with Rachel, she didn't even fully understand what was Sam was talking about. But she wanted them both to stop this and get back to hunting the Vampires.

"Get back in the car." John snarled.

"No." Sam said. His jaw set.

"I said get back in the damn car." John said, is cool slipping just ever so slightly.

"Yeah. And I said no." Sam said.

"All right Sam, you made your point." Rachel said, " But this will have to wait or we're gonna lose them vamp's and I know that you don't want that." 

Neither Sam or John took their icy stares from each other as she spoke. Dean spoke next. 

"Seriously. We can talk about this later. Sammy, I mean it, come on." Dean pushed Sam toward the car and Rachel steered John in the opposite direction toward his truck. Not more then three steps away, Rachel heard Sam speak under his breath.

"This is why I left in the first place." He said.

John spun on his heel so fast that Rachel couldn't have stopped him if she'd tried.

"What'd you say?" He said, his voice gaining some octaves now.

"You heard me." Sam said turning back to his father. 

Oh shit. Rachel thought as she saw Dean make a face that said the same thing. 

John quickly closed the distance to his son and once again Rachel and Dean tried to get between them.

"Yeah. You left. Your brother and me, we needed you." John yelled, the hold on his anger completely gone now. "You walked away, Sam, you walked away!"

He grabbed Sam by the front of his flannel shirt. Rachel and Dean pounced just then. Dean grabbed his fathers arm while Rachel tried to pry them apart by pushing her small frame between them.

"Stop it, both of you!" Dean grunted.

"You were the one who said "Don't come back", Dad. You're the one who closed that door, not me!" Sam yelled. His face hard and the veins in his neck bulging "You were just pissed off you couldn't control me anymore!"

Rachel was able to get herself between them and she pushed at John until he let go of his son. Dean helped by wedging a shoulder against his father.

"All right, stop it, stop it - stop it, that's enough!" He yelled at them.

"Every one back in the cars!" Rachel yelled at both of them. "What are we gonna do? Kill each other in the middle of the fucking street!" 

Sam and John both turned away angrily and headed toward their cars. 

Rachel and Dean were left standing there looking at each other in disbelief. 

"What the Hell was that all about?" Rachel asked. 

"The bullshit that is my life when it comes to the two of them. That's what." Dean answered. 

Rachel stood with her hands on her hips and thought about it for a second before she spoke again. 

"Well no wonder your so fucked up." She said. 

"I know, right?" Was Dean's answer. 

They shook their heads at each other and headed back to the cars.


	6. Chapter 6

As the first light of dawn approached John made them pull over to the side of the highway and into what seemed to be a clearing. Over some brush and bushes, Rachel saw a large red barn with a weathered roof. It had several cars parked in front, mostly trucks. 

She and the 3 Winchester's crouched in the under brush as another car, a sedan this time, approached. As the driver, a man in his 20's with dark hair, got out and stepped into the weak sunlight, Rachel saw the door to the barn open and another man, also in his 20's, greet the driver. 

"I know what time it is." The driver said as he hurried into the shelter of the barn. 

"Get in." The other man said and the driver hurried his step a bit at the command. 

Door guy was the authority. Rachel could sense it. She wanted him to be the first to die.

"Son of a bitch. So, they're really not afraid of the sun?" Dean asked his father.

"No, direct sunlight hurts like a nasty sunburn. The only way to kill them is by beheading. And, yeah, they sleep during the day. It doesn't mean they won't wake up." John Answered.

"So I guess walking right in's not our best option." Dean said.

"Actually," John said looking somber "that's the plan." 

Rachel found herself having to suppress a smile. Finally. She was going to kill some vampires. 

They all headed back to their cars to gear up. Rachel opened her trunk and began going through the mental check list of what she would need. She came up with only 1 thing: the long, thin machete she rarely got a chance to use. She picked it up and let the weight settle into her hand. She imagined it cutting into the flesh of a vampires neck as she arced it down quickly. She could almost feel the sick softness of the flesh and muscle and then the crunch of bone reverberate through her arm as she imagined the kill in her head. 

_Woah, Rach. Your one sick puppy._ She thought to herself. She knew instantly why she was so ruthless today. This was as personal as a job could get for her. And as she'd learned, she was cruel when it was personal. 

"Ok, let's go." She heard John give the order but she didn't move. She had some questions for the eldest Winchester that she'd been too brain tired to ask in the last hours since she'd met him. Sam started the dialog a while back on the road,it was time she finished it.

Dean watched her as she stood at her trunk holding the machete and just staring blankly at it. For the first time in any of his hunting with her the thought crossed his mind that maybe he shouldn't trust her to watch his back. He was afraid for her then, and afraid for himself and his family. Going into battle with a lose cannon was never a good idea and she was showing every sign of being just that.

"John before we go I have a question to ask you." She said. Dad looked at her. "I want to know about this gun. Is it the reason he's dead, John?" 

Dean looked to his father to see how he would react to the question. He saw him give a sideways glance in his and Sam's direction before he spoke. 

"No. I don't think they were after it. They probably don't even know what it is." 

"Then what is it? And why do you want it so bad?" Rachel asked, turning toward him and fixing her gaze on him. 

Dean felt the tension build. Dad wasn't used to people demanding answers from him. First it was Sam and now her. Again.  
>"<p>

Can we just say that it's really important and that we CANNOT leave in the hands of vampires and be done with it?" Another glance at him and Sam. What ever the reason was that he was withholding the info from Rachel, it had to do with them. He didn't want THEM to know the reason he needed it so bad. So Dean deducted that it must be Yellow-eyed demon related. 

"Not good enough." Rachel said. Her voice getting hard. "This gun was stolen from my grandfather and that means that it belongs to me and my family. I have the right to know what's so special about it before I decide to let you have it or not." 

Dean saw his fathers jaw clench. 

"You think that's for you to decide?" John asked Rachel. 

Before Rachel could answer Sam spoke up, pulling Dean's attention away from the volcano that was about to erupt. 

"You know what, Dad. We all have the right to know. Especially her." Sam voiced. Still angry apparently from their confrontation a few hours ago. 

Dad looked at Sam and if his eyes were capable of emitting laser beams, Sam would be headless. Sam in turn set is jaw and made his eyes hard as he looked at his father with defiance. 

It never failed. In one way or another since Sam had turned 17 or so, this was the norm for them. This time apparently was no exception. But to his surprise, Dad backed down. He let out an exasperated breath and said "Ok, you want to know, I'll tell you." 

Dean could have been knocked over with a feather at that point. What was more surprising is that Dad wasn't even begrudged right now. His features were soft, his voice was mellow. He wanted to tell them. What ever his reasons were for change of heart, Dean didn't know, but he embraced it. Maybe now Dad and Sam would stop fighting.

"It's just a story - a legend, really. Well, I thought it was. Never really believed it until I read Daniel's letter." Dad said. He took a deep breath and began the tale. 

"Back in 1835, when Halley's Comet was overhead, the same night those men died at the Alamo, they say Samuel Colt made a gun - a special gun. He made it for a hunter - a man like us, only on horseback." Dean leaned in closer to listen, he glanced quickly at Rachel and saw that her face was unchanged. He turned back to his father when he began to speak again. 

"The story goes he made thirteen bullets. This hunter used the gun a half dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. Somehow, Daniel got his hands on it. They say-" Dad turned his full attention to him and Sam and finished the story. "they say this gun can kill anything." 

In the moment of silence that followed that last sentence Dean's thoughts went in a million different directions. Then in a second of clarity it sunk in. Did Dad really just say what he thought he'd heard him say? Surely not. Everything was forgotten except for what he'd just heard. Rachel, Sam's bitch fit, all of it. Had he just heard that they might have a weapon against the thing that killed his mother?

"Kill anything, like, supernatural anything?" He asked, need confirmation.

"Like the demon." Sam said, in disbelief. Obviously as shocked as Dean was.

"Yeah, the demon. Ever since I picked up its trail, I've been lookin' for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun... we may have it."

John turned his attention to Rachel once again. 

"So you see Rachel, my whole life as a hunter, what I've raised my boys to be, can all be justified by this gun that those vamps have that they stole from your granddaddy." He said, motioning toward the barn. 

Dean turned to her and saw her beautiful features hard as stone. 

"You can have the damn gun, John. I just want to split those things open like they did to him. I just wanted to know that's all." 

"Let's find the gun and then you can do all the splitting you want. We'll help you." John said. 

"Sorry John, the gun is second priority right now to me. I'm going in swinging, I'm sure we'll find the gun in the bodies after." 

"Woah, you need to take it down a notch little girl, we are NOT going in there with guns blazing, we have to do this slow and quiet." John said, holding a hand up. 

"And why's that?" Rachel asked with stern eyes. "So we can make sure you've got your hands on it first?" 

"No. Because slow and quiet is the way it needs to be done. Period." John said with a sternness of his own. 

"With all due respect, Sir." Rachel said. "I'm not one of your children. I don't have to follow your orders or agree to do things your way. I came here to kill vampires, not go antiquing." 

"Rachel, he's right we can't go in there like lunatics." Dean said. Trying to reason with her. He took a few steps toward her. "Think about it a sec. If you were in your right mind you would do this differently and you know it." 

"My mind is fine right now." She insisted. 

"Oh really?" John said. "Did it occur to you that the people who called 911 might be in there alive? And that if we go in there like you want to there's a good chance they might now make it out?" 

Rachel's eyes softened. 

"Or did you think about the fact that we know for sure that they out number us and if we stand any chance of walking out of there ourselves we have to make sure that we even the odds a bit first before it turns into a full on fight?" John said. 

Rachel turn her gaze to the floor this time. She knew he was right. 

John took a few steps toward her this time. She looked up at him with what Dean could only identify as a slight amount of shame. 

"I don't know too much about you Rachel," Dean heard his father say, his voice low and compassionate now. "But I've been doing this a long time and I can sense a good hunter when I see one. Your a good hunter. I know it." 

Rachel raised her head a bit more to be able to look at him in the eye now. 

"My boys trust you, so I trust you too. I know your hurtin' right now but let's do this right, ok?" 

Dean looked at Sam, who returned his look of surprise. Dad was being consoling and...tender? Almost? 

Dean turned back to see Rachel look up at his father fully, her eyes were glassy but he knew that she would never shed a tear in front of him. She respected him. He knew that even though she'd been defiant to his authority since she'd met him. But the circumstances called for it he guessed. 

"Yes, Sir." she said under her breath. He'd barely caught it. He couldn't see it but he could swear his father might have given her a smile just then, before turning and leading them toward the barn with a low toned "Ok. Let's go."

Sam opened the window slowly and motioned for Rachel to head in first. She climbed through as silently as she could and as she stood there in the gloom of the nest waiting for the guys to climb in, she looked around and took in the scene before her. 

Hammocks where strung everywhere from the rafters and support beams. Each one held a sleeping vampire. At least a dozen of them. Rachel's hand squeezed around the handle of her machete in unison with her jaw clenching. She held herself back from the urge to just start slicing into them. 

She looked a few yards over to her right and caught John's eye as he motioned that he was going to check the back of the barn. She nodded her understanding of where he would be just as his son's took up their place next to her. 

The three of them also nodded at each other as a silent cue that they were all ready. They began moving forward through the nest as silently as they could. Their job was to free any victims they could find while John looked for the Colt. 

The moved through the jungle of sleeping monsters, some of them snored softly, some murmured in their sleep, some scratched various body parts. Dean almost woke one as he tried to duck around the hammock it was in, but kicked an empty beer bottle and bumped into the hammock as he reacted to it. The thing shifted in his sleep but did not wake. 

Rachel's stomach turned at the sight of them. She wondered which one of them was the actual one that had taken her grandfathers life. Which one? She wanted to hurt that one the most. 

_Focus, Rachel._ She told herself. John's pep talk had been right on the money. She was being careless, doing things that she would never do if this had been just another hunt. And that was fine as long as it was only her skin she had to worry about. But innocent people's live were on the line and no matter what her grudge was with these animals, it didn't give her the right to put their lives in jeopardy. 

Sam spotted the girl first. Tied to a support beam, clothes ripped and dirty, her mouth bleeding. They moved more quickly toward her, she seemed to be passed out cold. God know's what they had done to her. 

Sam began untying her hands as Rachel began with the ropes at her ankles. There was a soft thud to the left and Dean leaned over to peer in the direction it had come from. 

"There's more." He whispered. 

He began walking toward what looked like a makeshift cage made out of one of the horse stalls. Sam motioned for her to go with him, that he would finish with the girl. 

Rachel stood and slunk ed behind Dean until they both came to the door of the stall. Rachel looked inside and saw at least 6 men and women with their hands tied behind their backs, all of them were asleep. Rachel could only guess that they were drained to near death. The metal door was heavily pad locked. Dean reached over and to a nearby bench and picked up a wicked looking hook with a handle. Rachel watched as he slipped the hook under the hinge that secured the door to the beam of the stall. With a bit of force he pushed the hook up and the hinge popped right off with a soft thud but to Rachel it sounded like a gunshot. 

She and Dean both paused to listen to see if the sound had woken any of the vamps up, but everything was silent still. That was until Dean crouched to go for the second hinge. Just as he'd slipped the hook under the last hinge a guttural, multi toned, horrible scream echoed through the barn. 

Dean stood, his eyes wide with panic. Rachel turned to see the dozen vampires hop out of their hammocks and land on their feet. Rachel's hand once again clenched around her machete and she planted her feet. She smiled slightly as she saw the first vamp to hone in on her. A girl. Small and blond. Ran toward her with an evil snarl. 

Rachel's heart pounded as the girl neared. When she was close enough Rachel arced the machete up and swung down with every bit of power her muscles could give her. Before she could even realize what happened the girl froze with a shocked look on her face. A second later her head fell from her shoulders and rolled a few feet in the other direction. The headless body stood there a second longer, then collapsed at Rachel's feet. 

She didn't have a second to relish the feeling of elation at finally killing on of these bastards. She looked up and saw all Hell breaking loose around her. Dean was in a death grip with another vamp and Sam was finishing off the girl he'd been trying to untie. She had a full set of razor teeth and was trying to bite Sam's neck before he separated her head from her body. Damn vamp's had turned her. She must have been the one that screamed. 

"Boys, run!" John Winchester yelled from somewhere. 

Damn it! Rachel thought. She'd been ready to go after another one when she'd heard the order. She obeyed as did his son's. In a moment of battle like this one, a smart hunter didn't question a command. She ran like she was told to with Sam in front of her and Dean behind her.

They had to slash their way out, but Racehl was sure taht the flesh wounds they inflicted were completely survivable by the monsters. 

They burst out of the barn doors and into the full sunlight. They turned to stand their ground and saw that the vampires that had chased them out were recoiling form the sunlight. 

"Let's go." Sam said breathlessly. They ran to the clearing in the woods where their car's stood and looked back to see if and when John would follow.  
>Long second passed as they didn't; see him. Dean was the first to call out for his father. .<p>

"Dad?"  
>No response.<p>

"Dad!" Sam called. His voice panicked. 

Rachel felt her stomach turn as they were met with silence again. Had John not made it out? 

A few long seconds later Rachel let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding in relief as John jogged into the clearing.

"Dad." Dean said. Also relieved.

"They won't follow. They'll wait 'til tonight. Once a vampire gets your scent, it's for life." 

"Great. So what now?" Rachel asked.

"We've got to find the nearest funeral home, that's what."


	7. Chapter 7

They couldn't head back to the cabin. It was too far away at this point. They had trailed he vamps over 90 miles to their den and the hour and half drive back would steal away precious time they ha d to hunker down and prepare for the attack that was coming. They found a close motel and John paid for two rooms for three days on the 1st floor of one of the L shaped buildings.

As soon as they were settled in John gave Rachel and Dean the task of finding the nearest funeral pallor to retrieve as much blood from a corps as they could. This order didn't surprise Rachel for two reasons. One being that she had read in her grandfather's journal that infecting a vampire with dead blood was the equivalent of tranquilizing them; it made them slow and weak, so it was going to be their most powerful weapon against them at long range. The second was that she was almost sure that he wanted to be alone with Sam.

The air was still thick with their tension and even though she already knew the eldest Winchester to be forceful and demand obedience without question, she was also beginning to learn that he was no fool. He knew what was needed to win a fight, especially a deadly one. And he was ripened enough to know when to put his ego on the shelf and be peaceful in order to have clear heads. His younger son was still very green to that concept and raged with a force of pure defiance. So it was up to John to make amends and he needed Dean and Rachel out of picture for that to happen.

So Rachel and Dean had been picked for the blood heist. Rachel drove, Dean sat in the passenger seat of her Mustang as they roamed the streets looking for funeral home. They were quiet most of the way, both exhausted from lack of sleep.

The Colorado Township they were in wasn't exactly small, but they found what they were looking for fairly quickly. Along one of the busier streets Dean spotted the dark wood structure with a parking lot on the left and a simple low-key sign in the front that read _"Primrose Funeral Home." _

"Ok, that's our target." Rachel said.

"Don't pull into the lot; find parking on one of the side streets." Dean said.

She saw his point without asking why he'd made the suggestion so she did as he instructed. The lot was empty so the pallor was probably closed. A lone parked 60's muscle car would definitely attract attention.

They walked the 2 blocks back to the structure. Getting in was easy enough, a basement window had been left unlocked and Rachel had slid through easily. She found it a bit hard not to chuckle through her weariness as Dean struggled to get his larger frame through the small window. He landed hard on the basement's concrete floor with a curse.

Once they were in they headed upstairs, avoiding all windows, stopping frequently to listen for signs of occupancy in the building and checking around every corner for alarm triggers or security cameras.

They found nothing to hinder then from their task so they set out more boldly to find a cadaver with blood to donate. The first floor held 3 "chapels" for viewing the deceased, all of them were empty.

"We need to find the embalming room and hope the place has a customer." Rachel said as the continued to search the first floor.

Dean found it. A door inside what she guessed was the funeral directors office, only accessible from this room and not the hall way out side. Hidden, she supposed, to make sure no patron mistook it for a bathroom.

Dean opened the door and flipped the switch on the wall. The room immediately flooded with harsh florescent light.

"Bingo." Dean announced as he moved into the small space, Rachel in tow.

The room was small and white with white tile walls and beige nonskid tile floor. Counters and cabinets edged the far 3 sides of the room also in white with grey granite counter tops.

The counters held silver instruments on trays, glass containers with things like cotton swabs and gauze pads. It looked very much like a doctor's office except for 1 thing; the 3 ½ foot tall steel table with a dead body on it right in the center.

The two hunters stood beside the table and peered down at their donor. The man was silver haired but no older than 60 at most. The sheet covered him completely except for where it was folded over to about 4 inches below his shoulders. His build was slim and, from what Rachel could see of him, maybe even athletic. His eyes were closed and Rachel could tell that in life the man had been handsome.

She found that she was filled with sorrow looking at him now, stone cold dead on this slab waiting for the mortician to prep him for his family to view him, she shook it off as she remembered that they had a job to do here and getting teary eyed about some guy she'd never met and knew nothing about wasn't going to keep her alive.

"Ok, let's find something to poke him with." Dean said and set off toward the back cabinets.

Rachel set out toward the opposite wall and started doing the same. "Not one for respecting the dead huh?" She asked as she opened a set of doors.

"So what we're about to do to him is totally respectful as long as we don't verbalize it?" Dean asked from behind her.

"You've got a point I guess." She said "Ever do anything like this before?" She asked.

"What? Steal blood from a dead dude?" Dean answered. "Nope, I've dismembered them, salted and burned them and even killed them again when they've come back to life but stealing their blood? Nah, that's a first for me."

"I was only asking because I've never done it either and I'm not even sure how we'd go about it." Rachel said pulling a clean glass jar out of one of the cabinet; she thought they could use it to collect the blood.

She turned to ask Dean if she thought that the size jar would be big enough when she saw him face her as well, only he was holding a thin length of rubber tubing that tapered off and attached to a wickedly long and thick needle.

"You mean you're a blood thief virgin too?" He asked. Then his look went to that of an exaggerated smirk. "We'll be losing our blood thief virginity together, alright."

She would have been slightly amused at his joke had she not been completely petrified and staring at the needle and tube in his hand.

"You're doing that." Rachel said pointing to it. "I can't."

He looked down at the needle and then back up at her with a huge grin. "Oh yeah, I'm just fine doing the poking."

Rachel moved closer to the table and rolled her eyes at him.

"You're fine poking a dead guy. Got it. Poke away." She said with a sweep if her hand.

He stood there for a moment still smiling before she saw him realize that due to his silly innuendo's she was insinuating gay necrophilia. She watched with amusement as the smile went from his face slowly as he tried to come up with a retort. When he couldn't, he just hung his head and moved to join her at the table.

She laughed inside despite herself. She didn't know why she felt better then she had since this whole mess started, but she did know it had a lot to do with his presence. For a moment she let herself be thankful for it.

Then it was down to business. Serious again, Dean began feeling the dead man's throat for the corroded artery. In the mean time Rachel opened the jar and set it on the table next to the dead man's hand. She took the opened end of the tubing and put it into the jar just as she saw Dean bring the pointed end of the needle to the man's neck.

She watched as the sharp end of the needle pierced the dead skin. Dean pushed it in upward about an inch. They both watched as the thick, dark artery blood made its way down the opaque tube to the end and begin to pour into the clear jar. It pooled on the bottom in a nauseating bead that got bigger and bigger until it started to move its way up the sides.

As thick as pancake syrup, it took more time then Rachel would have liked to fill the jar ¾ of the way before she nodded to Dean that it was enough.

She half expected the blood to spurt from the man when Dean removed the needle but instead it just trickled a bit down his neck. Rachel's next thought was that there was no way for it to spurt without a beating heart.

She closed the jar tightly as Dean discarded the tube and needle and swabbed away the blood trickle from the cadaver with a paper towel he's gotten from the rack on the counter.

"That wasn't so bad." He said as he threw the towel into the waste basket.

"Speak for yourself. I know we do a lot of gory shit in this line of work but not to innocent people who don't deserve it." She said. "I ever do that again I'm gonna need at least three shots of whisky before."

She saw him think for a moment. Then he asked "How about three shots of whisky after?"

She frowned at him.

"C'mon." he said with a nod of his head as he headed for the door back into the office. She followed him carrying the jar of blood, shutting the lights and the door behind her.

He went to the far end of the office to the little structure she hadn't noticed before: A small wooden bar built into the wall.

"Huh." She said as she watched Dean select a bottle that was ¾ full of dark amber colored liquid from a row of similar bottles of liquor. Wild Turkey she would have guessed from what she could see of the label.

"I noticed it when we came it." Dean said as he looked around for glasses. "Make sense I guess. You come here to make arrangements for your loved one; you're distraught, crying uncontrollably." He emulated a few sobs as he unscrewed the bottle and began pouring three fingers into each glass. "The funeral director offers you a drink 'to calm your nerves'. Either that or the guy just likes to drink on the job."

He took both glasses and handed her one. She met his hazel eyes and couldn't help the little smile that came to her lips as she looked at him in amusement.

"Three shots, right?" He asked.

"Yeah," She said, taking the glass. "Thanks."

Before she could take a drink, Dean held out his glass in a toast. "To the dead guy I just poked." He said with a serious face.

She couldn't hold it back any longer. She laughed out loud as he knocked back his whisky and downed it in one swallow as if he were truly paying homage to fallen friend.

"Yeah, that's good." He said.

"Is anything ever serious to you Dean?" She asked.

"Not usually." He said as he went back to the bar for the bottle. "Come sit a spell will ya?"

He sat Indian-style on the plush blue rug with the bottle and his glass in front of him. She sat facing him and took her drink in the same fashion that he had as he poured himself another.

The alcohol burned viciously down her throat all the way to her belly. She breathed through her nose to quell the hot sensation and found it almost painful. She reveled in the feeling and wanted to do it again. She set down her glass in front of Dean and he poured her another without being asked.

"You ok?" He asked.

She knew he wasn't asking if the drink was too strong. He was asking if she was ok in general. She contemplated telling him she didn't want to talk to about it. But for the first time since this nightmare started she found that she did.

"I'll live." She said bringing the glass to her lips again. "I always seem to. Even when the people I love the most don't." She took a large gulp of the whisky instead of downing it this time. She would like nothing more to just drink herself into a numb stupor and pass out for a few days, but she knew that wasn't a possibility so she forced herself to go slow.

"We're gonna get them Rachel." He said. She locked eyes with him. "I promise."

She chuckled and shook her head. What she said next was not out of cruelty but out of frustration.

"No offense Dean, but I saw the way you and Sam reacted to being told about that gun. Your agenda is your fathers now; find my grandfathers gun and kill the son of a bitch that you all spent the last 20 plus years trying to find a way to kill, not to help me."

She was sure she saw his eyes register hurt but she couldn't help but continue. "I'm tired of my family dying and I want some fucking payback for once. I'm very well aware of this position I'm in which is the back seat to you, your brother and your father but unfortunately I don't have a choice in the matter because I go after these monsters alone I'm chop meat. So while I appreciate the reassurance and the dumb jokes that make me feel better for a second or two, please don't patronize me by trying to pretend that what matters to me is your first priority."

She swallowed another gulp of the whiskey and cradled the bit that was left in the glass. She looked down into the small layer of amber colored liquid at the bottom of the glass instead of up at him. She wasn't sorry for what she'd said; it was the truth, but rather her manner. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she'd been through too much at this point to worry about her tone of voice.

Dean was silent as well. Probably choosing what to say in order not to insight another outburst from the crazy bitch he was with. What he did say next surprised her.

"You're right."

She raised her eyes to him slowly while still keeping her head down. Her eyes were just a bit inquisitive. He went on.

"Listen, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. We want that gun. If it really does what my father says it does then Hell yeah, I want to get my hands on it."

He poured himself another shot of whiskey, this one smaller then the last two, and he continued to talk.

"But we want the gun for the same reason you want to slice these mofo's to pieces, Rach. The only difference is that someone we love has been gone longer than your grandfather,"

He reached over and poured more whiskey into the glass the still held in her hands. Clearly thinking she needed it.

"Now I'll make you a deal to show you that our M.O's the same." He continued as he met her eyes. "You help me get this gun so that I can go after the bastard that left me motherless, and I promise that the second it's in my hands you and I will go after them together till not one is left breathing."

She looked at him intently. Not sure what to make of this. Was he just being nice? Did he just want her cooperation for his own reasons? She'd hunted with him for almost a year now and she was almost sure she knew his character, but this was an issue she'd never had a see him react to. She knew that his mother was killed by a strange yellow eyed demon and that's what had spurred his father into becoming a hunter and raising his son's to be the like, but that was where her knowledge ended.

She had no idea how far he would go or how deep his need for revenge ran. She supposed it didn't matter.

Weather he meant this promise he offered or not she was going after the vamps even if it meant her own life was forfeit to their hunt.

Rachel was tired. All the rage was built up to the point that she if didn't let it out and put the issues she had to rest she would most certainly die on her next hunt due to lack of….whatever it was that kept hunters alive because she would be consumed by her hatred, fury, misery and self loathing.

It didn't matter if he would keep to his word or let her go after them alone when he got what he wanted.

Right there, sitting on the floor with him, looking at his handsome face and honest gaze, she decided that she would trust him based on the character she'd come to know over the last months.

She didn't know it then, but having made this decision at this moment, she'd opened herself up him the way she never thought she would another hunter that wasn't her blood. Because of that a bond formed in her toward him that would grow and become something she would rely on in the future. Unbeknownst to her, she'd just let Dean Winchester in to another level of her.

"Ok." She said softly. "I'll help you."

"And I'll help you." He said with a soulful look. "If we don't get all our blood drained that is."

"Yeah," She chuckled and took a sip of her whiskey. "There's that."

"Let's get out of here." He said and drained his glass. "My father and Sam might have already killed each other."

He stood up and offered her his hand. She slipped her palm against his and noticed how his larger hand engulfed hers when he gripped it.

She got to her feet and they stood within an inch of each other. Their movements faltered for a moment and she looked up to lock eyes with him. The tension between them grew as neither drew back from this close stance they found themselves in.

Instead they let it engulf them and Rachel found herself fighting the urge to stand on her tippy toes and kiss him.

She didn't fight it long. She wanted to kiss him, knew he wanted to kiss her and she wasn't going to let this moment pass while she felt sorry for herself and her family. Her heels' left the ground and she brought her mouth up to his just as he was bringing his down to her.

They kissed softly, his arms wrapping around her waist and hers around his neck. She felt comforted in his embrace, his soft lips manipulating her mouth in a tender, non demanding way.

She kissed him back with hunger then, telling him that even in the middle of all this he had the power to melt her and was welcomed, for the moment, to use it to his advantage.

They stood there for how long, kissing gently, then passionately, then tenderly again, for how long she didn't know. And just for this moment she let the time seep out of her mind until all that was left in there was Dean.

They arrived back at the motel shortly after, jar of dead man's blood in hand. Dean Walked through the door first, followed by Rachel and saw his brother and father sitting at the small desk on the opposite side of the room.

Dean could have sworn they had been smiling at each other before they turned to look in his direction. He pretended not to notice but silently gave thanks to whatever higher power existed that they were finally starting to get along.

"What took you so long?" Sam asked.

Dean glanced back at Rachel, he didn't want to tell his father they had been drinking, kissing and forming alliances in the funeral directors office. He was glad when she came up with an excuse at lightning speed.

"You wouldn't believe how much security there was for a bunch of dead guys." She said.

"Did you get it?" Dad asked, apparently satisfied with Rachel's answer.

Dean set the jar full of crimson liquid on the desk in front of him.

Dad picked it up and swirled it around once. Happy with his inspection he pushed the jar to Sam.

"You know what to do." He said.


	8. Chapter 8

Rachel lay on her belly on the cold Earth. The thick(ish) blue corduroy jacket and black wool sweater she wore under did little to stop the damp chill from seeping into her body.

She tried not to focus on it but instead trained her thoughts on the image she saw through the sight of the crossbow she held; Dean, leaning under the open hood of his Impala pretending to examine the engine.

Night had fallen; she was flanked by the other two Winchesters, who also held crossbows trained on Dean. They were hidden in the brush on the rise of earth just off the highway, waiting for the monsters to take the bait, Dean, pretending to have car trouble, and come out into the open so they could shoot them with their dead man's blood dipped arrows.

She was cold and getting antsy. If they didn't show soon she….

Then there they were. One of the bitches she'd seen in the nest tailed by an enormous bald headed, biker type black vampire.

The girl, probably about Rachel's height and build, sauntered toward Dean, who must have felt her presents and turned to face her.

They exchanged a few words that Rachel couldn't hear from this distance.

"Hold your fire you two." John whispered. "We have to see if they came alone or if there are more we can't see."

Rachel listened and so did Sam, but Rachel set her sights on the girl, the direct center of her chest.

The girl backhanded Dean across his left cheek bone. The adrenalin began to pump through Rachel, making her finger impulsively tighten on the trigger.

"Hold." John whispered.

She held on like he said but it was getting harder and harder not to pull the trigger. They watched as the girl grabbed Dean's face and lift him right off his feet about a foot off the ground.

Besides the anxiety building in her to shoot the bitch, she couldn't help but marvel at the sight unfolding before her. The vamp looked like she weighed the same as Rachel, about 120. Dean was a head taller than the girl and had to weight a buck eighty. She lifted him like he was a stuffed animal she was putting up on a shelf.

"Hold." John said again.

"Are we waiting for her to break his neck John?" Rachel hissed.

If John answered she wasn't sure. Her full attention was taken by what happened next. The girl brought Dean back down to her level and kissed him full on the mouth.

It was the rage that engulfed her that made her pause for another second. She waited until the vamp released Dean from the kiss and hold him at arm's length again. With Dean clear, she didn't care what John instructions where, she pulled the trigger and was rewarded by the satisfying "whoosh" of the bungee cord firing the arrow.

She heard another one a second later, Sam's crossbow. She watched as her arrow pierced the back of the bitch vampire and come out the front of her chest, almost definitely impaling her heart. The girl jerked a bit with the impact and release Dean completely.

She, Sam and John sprung to their feet and headed down the embankment to face the two vamps. It was only as they headed down that she saw that Sam's arrow had impaled the biker vamp, also through the chest.

John was in the lead, holding his cross bow up he smiled at the girl when she turned toward him.

"It barely even stings." She said with a smirk.

"Give it time sweetheart. That arrow's soaked in dead man's blood. It's like poison to you isn't it?" John said.

Rachel's eyes narrowed in pleasure as she saw the grin wipe from her ugly face and her eyes roll to the back of her head.

She collapsed and would have fell to the ground had Dean, standing behind her, not caught her under the arms.

"Load her up." John instructed his son, who nodded and dragged the girl off toward the impala.

Rachel turned and saw the biker on his knees on the asphalt; Sam had his machete arched over his head, ready to strike if biker guy got ballsy. The big black man looked woozy, but apparently his constitution was greater than that of the girl because he still held on to consciousness.

"I got this one Sam." Rachel said and pulled her own machete. Sam nodded and moved off to help Dean. She saw fear in the eyes on the vamp.

"Scared huh?" She asked. He didn't answer. "Did my grandfather look scared like that when you killed him in his den?"

"The old man in the cabin?" The vamp asked. Rachel didn't answer. Her jaw clenched in anger. "The hunter Kate went after?"

"Kate? Is that the bitch we just caught? She's the reason he's dead?" Rachel asked.

The vampire was silent but she knew. She could tell by the look on his face that the girl that Sam and Dean were tying up right now was the whore that had killed Papa.

"Thanks." Rachel said with a grin that was 100% genuine. "I'll make sure you die quick now for the Intel. I can't promise she'll be so lucky though."

And with that Rachel gripped the machete with two hands, arched it high above her left shoulder and swung it down towards his neck with all her might.

They retreated to a clearing in the woods they'd staked out a few hours before. Sam lit the campfire while Rachel helped Dean secure the vampire, who was now bound hand and foot, to a nearby tree facing the fire.

Dean watched as the girls head rolled and every now and then she would utter a low moan.

When they were done Dean went over to dad after being called. Dad was fishing around for things in the cab of his truck, when he was done he handed the bundle to Dean.

"Toss this on the fire. Saffron, skunk's cabbage and trillium. It'll block our scent and hers, until we're ready." Dad said.

Dean took a sniff and winced.

"Stuff stinks!" Dean said as he turned to do as his father asked.

"That's the idea." Dad said. "Dust your clothes with the ashes and you stand a chance of not being detected."

Dean went to the fire and placed the bundle in the center, as he did he looked over to the tree and saw Rachel still crouched in front of the passed out vamp. She held a long hunting knife in her hand but made no move to use it. She was just staring at the unconscious girl.

Dean contemplated going over there but before he could fully form the thought he caught wind on the conversation going on behind him between his brother and father. He decided that that needed his attention right this second.

"And then I want you out of the area as fast as you can." Dad said.

Sam began to interject but Dean came to his brothers side and joined the argument.

"Dad you can't take care of them all." Dean said.

"I'm not. It'll be me and Rachel. I wouldn't be able to keep her out of this if I drugged her. Plus I'll have the vampire as leverage. And the colt." Dad said.

"But after. We're gunna meet up right?" Sam asked. "Use the gun together, right?"

Dean looked at his father. The older man didn't answer.

"You're leaving again aren't you?" Sam asked. "You still wanna go after the demon alone. You know, I don't get you. You can't treat us like this." Sam's voice began to rise in anger.

"Like what?" Dad asked defensively.

"Like children." Sam proclaimed.

"You are my children. I'm trying to keep you safe." Dad answered.

Dean had had it. Sam was a spoiled brat when it came to issues with their father but the time to call dad out had come. He might not be as defiant as Sam was, but he'd had enough of the bullshit.

"Dad, all due respect but, that's a load of shit."

Both his brother and his father looked at him in shock.

"Excuse me?" Dad said

Dean met his father's gaze and for a moment felt like he was 12 again, having angered his father and was in for the consequences. But then he remembered that he was an adult now and he stood on more or less the same ground as dad. Bravely, he went on.

"You know what Sammy and I have been hunting. Hell you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keeping us safe."

"It's not the same thing Dean." Dad said, his eyes softening.

"Then what is it?" Dean asked. "Why do you want us out of the big fight?"

Dad's voice mellowed back down to its' softer tone. He looked from Dean to Sam as he answered the question.  
>"This demon is a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive."<p>

Dean saw it for what it really was and called his father out on it.  
>"You mean you can't be as reckless."<p>

"Look...I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece." Dad said. That sentence hit Dean like a ton of bricks. Dad just admitted that this whole thing would be a suicide mission for him. "Your mother's death, it almost killed me. I can't watch my children die too, I won't." He finished. As if the reason's he'd just given were enough.

Anger flared up in Dean. That was it? He was just supposed to accept that dad wouldn't come back after this? After all the years of searching it should be ok that dad would be left a corpse for the sake of revenge?

"What happens if you die?" Dean asked. "Dad what happens if you die and we coulda done something about it? I'm just supposed to be ok with that?"

Dad was silent. Dean Went on. "You know I been thinking. I ...maybe Sammy's right about this one. We should do this together."

Dean saw his brother nod out of the corner of his eye. .

"We're stronger as a family Dad. We just are. You know it." Dean said in a softer tone of voice, hoping he was getting through to this stubborn stubborn man.

Instead Dad's eyes got cold and hard once again. He straightened his shoulders and scowled a bit when he spoke next.

"We're running out of time. You do your job and you get out of the area. That's an order."

Dean felt deflated. His shoulders slumped with defeat but held his tongue. Unlike Sam, he knew that when his father got stern like that an argument would only end up being a fight that his father would come out the victor in no matter what.

An idea formed just then but he kept the light of it from his eyes lest his father see the sneakiness starting there.

"Besides, we got bigger worries at the moment." Dad said. "Dean, you better go control your girlfriend before she kills our leverage."

Dad motioned to the tree behind them, the one the vampire was tied to. Dean looked over his shoulder and saw Rachel in the same position he'd last seen her in, crouched down before the vamp, holding her long hunting knife.

The only thing that had changed was that the unconscious girl's eyes were fluttering open as she moaned. Rachel in turn looked like she might lose her bit of control any second and filet her. Her jaw was clenched and the knuckles of the hand holding the knife were white with the ferocity of how tight she held it.

Dean needed to go over there but before he did he turned back to Dad.

"Girlfriend?" He asked.

"I'm not an idiot, son." Was all Dad said.

Dean walked over to where Rachel was. He tread lightly as he went around her and crouched next to the tree to face her.

"Rachel?" He said.

She didn't take her eyes off the girl.

"You ok Rach?" He asked, hoping to insight a response.

In all her beauty she looked absolutely murderous right now. Every second the vamp came closer to consciousness Dean saw Rachel become more infuriated.

The vamp opened her eyes and confusedly looked at Rachel.

Dean saw the spark in her beautiful green eyes as they came in contact with the monsters. As if the gods in the heavens were affected by her rage, a peal of loud thunder rolled across the sky. A storm was coming in more ways than one.

"Rachel, give me the knife." Dean said gently.

She didn't turn her head but instead just moved her eyes to look at him.

"Back off." She bit out in barely a whisper.

"I can't do that. This is almost over. Don't do this now." He said, trying to reason with her.

"She's the one. The other vampire told me. She's the one that sent them after him." Rachel said.

Dean felt like he'd been hit in the belly with a baseball bat. They had the vamp that had caused Daniel Elkin's death?

And now here Dean crouched, with the old hunters furious granddaughter and his killer within stabbing distance of each other.

Dean recognized the situation here. Her father, her sister and her grandfather were all gone. All murdered.

And here Rachel was, the culmination of all that loss and pain and grief were at a laser point and it was all focused on this one vampire that they had tied to this tree.

And he was supposed to tell her to spare her life?

It wasn't even his family, wasn't even his pain and he wanted to jab that knife in her.

"Him? The hunter?" The vamp asked. Dean tried to will her to silence. "You his girlfriend or something?"

"I'm his granddaughter you bitch." Rachel answered.

"Aww, how sweet." The vamp said, feigning sorrow. "I had no idea. That old man didn't seem like the family type when we bled him out."

"Shut your mouth." Dean barked.

"Why?" Rachel asked eerily calm. "He hadn't hunted in a decade. All he did now was study his work and want to be left alone. He was no threat to you."

"We were bored." The vamp answered. "We we tired of the same 'ol same 'ol and figured a hunter, even an old and dried up husk of one, would offer a bit of a challenge. We were very disappointed at how easy it was to rip him open."

Rachel lunged. Before Dean could stop her she was nose to nose with the vampire, had her head pulled back with a fistful of the girls auburn hair and had the blade of the hunting knife pressed against her exposed throat.

"Rachel stop! You can't do this. Not now." Dean said and grabbed her wrist.

"I'm not going to kill her Dean." Rachel said through clenched teeth, he looked at her eyes and they swam with unshed tears as she stared down into the vampire's eyes with pure hatred. "I just want to slice her face off."

"Go ahead sweetie pie." The vamp said. "You grandpa will still be maggot food no matter what you do to me."

Rachel tensed and pressed the knife to the vamp neck harder. Her face hard, nostrils flared, her eyes gleaming with tears, Dean didn't know what he was supposed to do. He said the first thing that came to his mind.

"You promised Rachel." He said.

She didn't look at him but he felt the tempest in her quell just ever so slightly. Another roar of thunder shot across the sky.

"You promised me Rachel." Dean said softly to her. She didn't look at him, didn't take her eyes from the vampire but he saw that she eased the pressure off the blade and even on the girls hair. He was getting through.

"C'mon. Not now. Soon. I promised that." He said.

Finally the tears that had built up in her green eyes spilled forward over her cheeks and ran down her face.

When she spoke it was to the vampire again, less angry this time but with more hurt then Dean ever wanted to hear from her again.

"He was a good man. You made a big mistake taking him from me. Remember my face, because in a few hours it'll be the last thing you ever see."

She let go of her grip and backed away. Dean stood with her and moved her back and away from the vampire. He took the knife from her hand and looked into her painful green eyes just as he registered that Sam was moving in on the vamp with a small syringe filled with more blood to re-infect her.

"Thank you." Dean said to Rachel looking down at her. His next thought was completely the wrong one to have at a moment like this. It was about how beautiful her face looked when it was flickered with campfire light.


	9. Chapter 9

Rachel put the last of the arrows into the zippered arrow bag after reloading hers and John's cross bows with the 5 arrows each would hold and moved to the center of their small campsite to put the dying fire out the rest of the way.

John finished loading their still bound, still blood sick, kid napped vampire into the cab of his truck and shut the door.

Sam and Dean were already gone. They left in the Impala about 10 minutes ago to head back to the vampire nest to finish up their business there. Rachel and John were alone at the site as they prepared to make their way to the face off the rest of the vampires.

John thought his son's were gone. Rachel knew better.

Just before he'd left Dean confided in her that he was going to the nest to finish cleaning it out but after that he and Sam were going to double back and meet them on the road against his father's orders.

She couldn't help the tiny smile that escaped her when she thought about how he'd told her not to tell the old man and that there was no way he'd break his promise to her. He'd told her he'd meet her at the fight and that they'd kick some serious vampire booty. He'd given her a little smile and a wink before getting into the car with his brother and speeding off.

"You ready Rachel?" John asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Yeah. Let's do this." She said.

She picked up the arrow bag and tossed it into the back of his truck just as he finished loading the loaded crossbows into the cab.

She watched him as he did and she felt a pang of regret shoot through her for the first time in his regard. Something in her told him that if she didn't say something to him now that she might never have another chance, so she gave into the softness that was pushing at her.

"Hey John?" She said. He shut the door and looked at her.

"Yeah?"

"Listen I…..I know I haven't exactly been a peach to you in all this and I just want to take a sec to say I'm sorry."

He looked at her thoughtfully, his eyes soulful.

"No need to apologize. You got a lot more on your head that a young woman your age needs and snapping at an old coot like me in a situation like this is completely understandable." He said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. Not sure what to make of his soft demeanor.

"Why have you been so nice to me John? You don't seem like the type to take shit from anybody. Why take it from a crazy emotional bitch?"

He chuckled and looked down. The gesture reminded her very much of Dean. When he looked back up at her he had laughter in his eyes.

"I guess I needed you." He said with such a serious look that it took her by surprise. He'd meant that.

"YOU needed ME?" She asked incredulously. "You're a hunter for over twenty years, have seen more crap then I can probably shake a finger at and YOU needed ME?" She asked.

"Don't sell yourself so short, little girl. You're a good hunter. If twenty years of hunting have taught me anything it's how to spot someone that's good at the job. Even as messed up about your granddaddy as you've been I knew that I wanted you at my back." He said.

She looked at him. Uncertain what to make of the things he'd just said to her. A big part of her felt…..honored.

She felt honored that he thought so much of her. The feeling surprised her. She'd had no idea that his approval was so important to her.

"I'm not surprised you know." He went on. "You come from a good line. Your daddy and granddaddy would be real proud of you."

A lump caught her throat. Somehow hearing that they approved of her coming from him was almost like coming right from them. She did her best to hold back the tears that stung the back of her eyes.

"Thank you John." She said quietly. Hoping that what his words had meant to her were conveyed to him from those three of hers.

They stared at each other in silence for a few moments then. They both understood the significance of the moment that had just passed between them.

"Bet your mama's not too happy your doing this though. She never let did Jimmy have a moments peace about hunting."

Again she looked at him questioningly. She wished she'd had a moment that wasn't filled with an urgent need to kill things that were coming to kill them in order pick his brain and find out how he knew her and her family so well. Why Pappa would leave such an important artifact to him.

"You seem to know her well enough for me not to have to answer that question." She said.

He gave her a smile and laughed a little.

"That I do little girl. Now come on, let's go get these sons of bitches." John said.

She nodded and went around to the passenger seat of the truck. A rumble of thunder cracked over head. As she got in the truck next to the passed out vampire she hoped that the storm would hold off long enough to finish this thing.

"We got company." John said as he steered the truck down the deserted highway.

Rachel looked over her shoulder out the back window and saw 2 cars racing down the black top toward them. Both were sedans she recognized as being parked outside the vampire nest.

Her stomach did a little flip. It was show time.

John slowed the truck to a stop as both cars raced around to block him from the front. Rachel Reached down and grabbed both their cross bows. She handed one to John, not taking her eyes off the six vampires getting out of the sedans ahead of them.

two women and two men formed a line before the truck, illuminated by the trucks headlights.

One of the men took the lead, tall, ripped jeans, black boots, black leather jacket, longish hair, handsome. Obviously the leader.

Rachel opened the door and got out in unison with John. As soon as her feet hit the ground she brought the bow to her face and set the sight for the middle of leather jackets chest. She took a deep breath and kept her cool.

"Who are you?" Leather jacket asked John.  
>"Names Winchester." John answered simply.<p>

Rachel made her way around the front of the truck to stand by John's side, her eyes moving over each of the vamps in turn to make sure they didn't lunge for her but kept her arrow pointed at the leaders heart the whole time.  
>"Where are your friends?" The vampire asked.<br>"Cleaning out your nest." John answered without missing a beat.

Rachel smiled a bit at the look that came over the vampires face when the realization of what John had just said set in fully. Priceless. 

"Where's Kate?" He asked.

John reached into the front seat of the truck and picked up the end of the rope he had laying there. Kate was attached to the other end of it and as John pulled it, wrapping it around his fist, she came stepped out of the truck and into Johns arms. Bound and groggy but awake, she didn't move too much as John took the switch blade from his back pocket, opened it and pressed it to her throat. 

Rachel watched as the leader and Kate exchanged looks. She could have imagined it but he looked relieved to see her and she him.

"Kate, you all right?" The leader asked.

"Dead Man's Blood." Kate answered him.

A look of fury came over the leaders face. He turned murderous eyes back to John and took a step forward.

"You son of a bitch." He said.

Rachel also took a step forward and half a step in front of John, raising the crossbow higher so the vamp could see that in order to get to John he'd have to go through her.

"Back up right now!" She shouted. The leader halted in his tracks. The others around him prickled up and she was secondly aware of them while still focusing on him. "Unless you want a face full of Dead Man's Blood I suggest you back up right now." 

The leader listened and took a step back, Rachel also retreated just a bit and let John have the floor again.

"I want the colt. Elkins gun. Trade." John said.

Rachel did everything she could to stay focused when John spoke about letting the bitch go. She tried not to show it though.

"Is that what this is all about? I mean, you can't shoot us all right? We'll kill you both." The leader said. 

"Oh, I don't need it for you. I'm saving it for something else." John said. "Now, put the colt down, or she goes first."

"All right. Just don't hurt her." The leader said. He reached into the back of his waistband and pulled the gun out.

As he stepped forward and lowered it to the ground Rachel got her first look at it. An eight chamber revolver, long barreled, the silver tarnished with age. She felt a flood of relief when the vamp placed it on the ground and began to walk away from it. John almost had it. Once he did she could waste all these fuckers. It was almost over.

"Back up further." John told the vamp.

Rachel felt a tempest begin to stir in her and she knew that the adrenalin would start pumping in her veins soon. Her fight mode was about to switch to on and it seemed that the sky knew it as well because it let go a bright bolt of lightning and immediately followed it with a crash of thunder.

"Rachel." John said to her. Letting her know that she was to step forward and retrieve the colt while he held on to their hostage.

Rachel crossed the distance without losing her aim on the leader in the sight of the crossbow. When she was just over the gun she glanced down at it to note the positions and sank at her knees to pick it up.

What she didn't know was that in that second that she dropped gaze, the leader nodded ever so slightly to Kate, who'd worked out of her ties just enough to be dangerous. 

" It's a nice move, you almost made it." The leader said.

With one hand on the gun on the ground, crouched down with no leverage Rachel was helpless in the millisecond it took for the vamp to on top of her and backhand her across the cheek.

The pain exploded in her eye as she went down, the crossbow and the gun skidded across the blacktop in the opposite direction and she had just enough time to glance at John and see that Kate had gotten him in the face as well. John went down in a heap, unconscious.

Rachel got her feet as quickly as she could and on instinct threw a punch at the same time. It landed with a satisfying crunch on the leader's face who had been upon her it seemed.

She pulled the long machete from the holster tied to her jeans and swung. The leader and Kate, free now, jumped back out of the way of the arc of the blade just in time.

"Aww, poor baby. You miss your grandpa so much I'll send you to him sweetie." Kate mocked as she and the other four vamps closed in on her in a semi-circle.

Rachel looked around. Five on one. No way out. She was toast.

But that didn't mean that she couldn't take one or two of them down with her.

"Not before I send you to Hell Bitch." Rachel said boldly.

Kate made an arrogant face at her and was about to lunge, Rachel was sure, When all of a sudden a "whizz" sliced through the air and one of the other female vampires let out a yelp followed by a gurgle.

They all looked at her and saw her eyes wide with terror as blood poured out of a hole in her neck. A hole that had an arrow protruding from it.

Rachel didn't know how or why but she did take advantage of the distraction and swung her machete at one of the males closest to her. She caught him right across the neck as all Hell broke loose around them.

She saw Dean before she saw Sam. The brothers ran out of the trees like commandos ambushing their targets. Rachel had never been happier to see them.

She paused long enough to watch Dean line up another shot at another one of the males that was rushing him and see Sam head for the leader.

She'd seen enough then, the Calvary was here and it was ass kicking time. She turned and refocused her sights on the fight, looking for a vamp to take on.

Sure enough the only other standing female besides Kate was right there for the taking. She closed in on the tall redhead, giving her a swift kick to the stomach and sending her down to the pavement.

The vamp got up and took a swing of her own at Rachel. Which she dodged easily. As the girl's momentum took her forward Rachel shot her elbow into the small of her back, sending her down again.

The vamp was no match for Rachel, it was with that thought that Rachel turned and took off her head with the machete before she could even get up off the floor.

Rachel turned again, looking for another combatant. Around her was a maze of arrows flying, machete's swiping, punches and groans. Rachel loved every second of it.

She set her sights on Kate. Not one hundred feet from her.

Rachel took two determined steps toward her. Ready to end this, the bitches life as well as the torrent going on inside her, when she heard Sam groan in pain.

She turned her head and saw Sam being held in a vice grip around the neck by the leather clad leader who was now staring Dean down with hatred in his eyes.

In the multiple flashes of lightning over head that happened next, Rachel watched as Sam turned a shade of purple that didn't mean good things and the veins in his forehead begin to protrude.

"Don't! I'll break his neck." The leader said and tightened his grip on Sam just a bit to show he wasn't kidding, Sam let out a small gurgle in response. "Put the blade down."

Dean's whole body twitched as he struggled with the decision to unarm himself or let his brother suffocate.

Rachel tried with all her might to send Dean 'I've got your back, drop the knife' vibes as she was standing somewhat out of the leaders field of vision.

Dean either felt them or decided that being unarmed was better the this son of a bitch cracking Sam's neck because he threw the machete away, never taking his eyes off the leader or Sam.

It hit the ground as another bolt of lightning shot through the sky. This time Rachel smelled the electricity of it in the air around her. The storm was close.

"You people. Why can't you leave us alone. We have as much right to live as you do." The leader said, still holding Sam. 

" I don't think so." Rachel heard a voice from behind her say.

Rachel turned just as everyone else did and all their eyes fell on John. On his feet now, he held his arm outstretched, the colt gripped in his hand. He had it aimed at the leaders head.

He pulled the trigger and the shot rang out over the night that had gone silent. The bullet couldn't have been better aimed if the leader had had a red bulls eye painted on his forehead.

His head whipped back and he released his grip on Sam, who fell to the ground gasping for air.

Rachel's instinct to run to him was stalled by what she saw begin to happen next.

The leader stood back up, a shocked expression on his face. The bullet hole right in the center of his forehead was surrounded but an intricate circular pattern etched in black about 3 inches in diameter. It looked like some sort of sigil.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the sky.

No. Not a flash of lightning from the sky.

The flash of light had come from inside the leader, encased in his form. Just as Rachel tried to make sense of that it happened again, another bolt shot through him as he continued to look dazed and stumbled a bit. It illuminated this skeleton so it could be seen through his skin, the horrible grin of his skull shone right through his face.

The leader fell to his knees and human and vampire alike watched in awe as yet another burst of light passed through him, then flicker as if it was electrical current and then extinguish altogether, when that happened the leader crumpled to the ground. Dead.

Rachel stared in complete fascination. She'd never seen anything like this in her life. The gun really was magic. The bitch Vampire screaming broke Rachel of the trance that what she'd just seen put her in.

"LUTHER!"

She turned her head to the vampire just in time to see her give the deadliest look to John.

The sky opened up just then. A sheet of cold poured on top of them just as the bitch took a step toward John, intent on murder, Rachel was sure.

The only other vampire left standing, a tall male, grabbed her and pushed her toward the car.

Mindless of the fact that she was being soaked to the skin, Rachel marched towards them, her machete gripped so tight in her hand that her knuckles hurt.

As she moved closer she felt the anger in her bubble. It was time to end this. All of it.

She closed the distance between the two vampires just as they were sliding into their car.

She grabbed the male by the long pony tail in the back of his head and pulled as hard as she could. He whipped around punched Rachel squarely in the side of the jaw.

She went down. But not before getting a fistful of his shirt and bringing him down to the pavement with her. She brought her knee up as they went down and landed hard in his testicles.

He let out an "oomf" of pain but he wasn't nearly as fazed by it as she would have liked him to be. He came down on top of her. Pinning her on her back to the wet pavement and put one hand around her throat. He squeezed hard and she felt her wind pipe being crushed.

Just as she was trying to figure out how to maneuver her legs to flip him onto his back (and if she even could given that he weighed a good 70 lbs more than her) she saw a black boot come from the side and kick him right in the face.

The Vampire fell back off of her and she took a gasp of breath. She saw that it was Dean who'd attacked him as she wobbily got to her feet.

The vamp tried to throw a punch at Dean but he swiped at him with his Machete and the vamp backed up to avoid the blade.

Rachel coughed and choked for air, Sam was next to her, holding her up, asking if she was ok. She looked at his face, hair wet and plastered to his forehead, water dripping from his nose and just nodded.

She shook Sam off and picked up her machete, intent on joining Dean in fighting the monster so she could get to the bitch in the car as soon as possible. But as she turned to walk toward them the vamp landed a punch on Dean's cheek and sent him stumbling back into Rachel.

She caught Dean under the arms and took several steps back to keep her footing and keep him on his feet as well.

It only took a matter of a few seconds to make sure that she and Dean didn't fall to the ground and that they were both balanced on their feet but it was just enough time for the vamp to jump into the car, close the door and take off.

_FUCK! _Rachel thought.

But the next second Dean was pulling on her arm.

"Let's move" He said and turned toward the waiting Impala.

She moved with him toward it passing John and Sam on the way.

"Wait." John said. "Take the Colt."

She ignored him and followed Dean to the car.

"Keep the gun for your demon, John." She called out, her voice raised to be heard over the pounding of the rain. "I want that bitches head the old fashioned way."

She didn't get the chance to close the door fully before Dean was peeling off after them. She silently gave him thanks. He wasn't going to let them get away from her, just like he'd promised.

They caught up to them very quickly, the power of the Impala no match for the tiny sedan.

"Hold on." Dean said.

She did as he gunned the car and swerved into opposite lane, around them, past them and then swerved in front, breaking at the same time. Both sets of tires screeched as both cars came to a halt, the Impala parallel to them in front.

Rachel and Dean grabbed the machetes at their feet and burst from the car back out into the still pouring rain.

The two vamps also exited their car, Rachel thought she saw the male plant his feet in a fighting stance but Rachel ignored him, walking right past him, leaving him to Dean. Her eyes were trained on the bitch vampire and she moved through the rain on heavy feet right for her. She was trying to run but on seeing Rachel walking toward her she turned to also stand her ground.

Looking at the bitch, knowing this was the last moment they would share the same air, something snapped inside of Rachel at that moment. So clear and precise she would swear later she felt it as if it were a physical ache. She could name it as well. Rage.

Pure, white hot rage filled her being as she closed the distance between her and her grandfathers killer. The bitch screamed and charged her. Rachel threw the machete to the floor and waited for the impact. When in came she was ready for it.

Kate threw a punch that Rachel easily avoided and while she fell forward in her momentum Rachel grabbed the front of her shirt and swung her around. She slammed her as hard as she could against the sedan. Kate cried out as the breath left her lungs from the impact. Rachel pulled her forward and slammed her violently against the car again, this time with a grunt of her own.

Twice more she did it until Kate's eyes rolled into the back of her head. Rachel threw her to the floor where she landed on her hands on knees. Rachel bent and picked up her machete. She walked to where Kate now crawled on the wet asphalt.

Rachel kicked her hard in the stomach. It was as she went down that Rachel realized her teeth were tightly clenched.

Rachel pushed back the wet hair that was stuck to her face and saw her sister in her mind's eye, gathering her beautiful golden hair into a scrunchie as they drove down the highway. She was smiling at Rachel, her blue eyes sparkling with laughter, dark now because of a spirit.

Rachel's heart tore at the image and she kicked Kate again, harder this time.

Next was an image of her father scooping her up into his arms, his green eyes a mirror of her own. The light gone out of them forever because of a monster like this one.

She cried out as she kicked Kate a third time, the girl was now sobbing from the impact.

Then her beloved Grandfather's image was the next one she saw. He looked up at her from a page he wrote in his journal and gave her a smile. So kind and loving and gentle. She'd never see it again because of this bitch in particular.

Rachel kicked her in the face this time, sending her flying back onto her ass on the ground.

Rachel towered over her as Kate cowered backwards. All the pain and rage washing over her in wave after miserable wave, all pinpointed on this one vampire right now.

"Please." Kate begged "Please, I'm hurting."

"So am I." Rachel answered; surprised to hear her own voice as she'd given no thought to what she was saying. "So am I and I don't want to do it anymore."

She raised the machete and brought it down in one swift motion. Before she even knew what was happening Kate's head was rolling across the soaked asphalt and her headless body slumped to the ground.

Rachel looked up and saw Dean looking at her, the male vampire also headless and dead on the floor.

Rachel fell to her knees, sick to her stomach as the emotions took control of her. She doubled over and broke into sobs, the only way she could differentiate the tears that streamed down her face from the rain that poured down over her was that her tears were hot while the rain was cold.

Before she knew it Dean was there with her. Facing her, also on his knees, his hands gripping her upper arms, pulling her up to face him.

"It's over now, do you hear me?" He said forcefully. "No more of this ok? Let it go right now before it kills you Rachel."

She looked at his drenched face and understood all that he meant. It was enough. It had to be enough now. No more being torn apart by grief and heartache. He wanted her to leave it here on this wet road right now with the dead vampires before it consumed her.

She locked eyes with him and nodded, knowing that she had to listen or join the ones she loved from her own sorrow.

"It's over. I swear." She said to him.

He wrapped her in his arms and she clung to him. The rain came down in sheets over them and how long they sat there like that she didn't know. It seemed like forever.


	10. Chapter 10

They drove back to the motel in silence. The rain hadn't let up one bit and the_ whoosh whoosh whoosh _of the wipers along with the steady drum of the rain on the roof and windows was the only sound that filled the car's interior.

Dean looked over and saw Rachel staring out into the night, her hair hung in dark strings, some sticking to her neck, water logged as was the rest of her.

Both of them were soaked to the bone, their clothes heavy with water and spotted with dirt and grime. He didn't have the strength to care about the interior of the car and he was so cold, as he was sure she must also be.

The night was over, the monsters were dead and he hoped that in the midst of it all Rachel was somehow still sane. He pulled into the parking lot of the motel and saw that his father's truck was there. He and Sam had made it back safe.

He pulled into a spot and before he could say a word to Rachel she was opening the door to get out.

"Goodnight." Was all she said before plunging out into the rain once again. Dean sat in the car and watched as she walked to the room about 50 yards down the path from the one his father and brother occupied. open the door and disappear inside, shutting the door behind her.

The rain pounded on the roof, the lightning flashed in the sky and Dean just sat there, completely confused by the way she had just shut down on him.

He finally got out of the car, weary and walked the few feet to the door of his father's room. Not caring that the rain beat on his head yet again, there was no way he could get any wetter then he already was.

When he opened the door Sam and Dad looked up at him from the desk and the bed.

"Rachel?" Sam asked worriedly before Dean could even shut the door.

"She's fine. In her room." Dean struggled out of his boots and saturated jacket at the door as Sam tossed him a towel.

"The Vamps?" Dad asked.

"Taken care of." Was all Dean said as he ran the towel over his wet head, wiping away the water on his face finally.

"Good job, son. By both of you." Dad said.

"Yeah." Dean scoffed, pulling off his flannel over shirt, leaving on just his grey t-shirt. "At least something got accomplished tonight."

Dad and Sam both knew by his tone not to ask anything more. Sam moved over to the desk with his father and the two of them began to examine the colt. A task Dean would have been very interested in, especially after seeing what it did to the head vampire, had his thoughts not been preoccupied by Rachel.

Dean slunked down in one of the chairs at the table by the big picture window, not giving a crap that he was still soaked and in turn soaked the chair under him. He looked out at the rain through the slight part in the curtain and thought about all that had happened tonight.

He'd killed the male vampire fairly quickly and after he watched Rachel first beat Kate to within an inch of her immortal vampire life and then take her head off. She'd been savage with the vampire; he'd seen her beautiful face contort on the verge of ugliness as she kicked the fallen vampire over and over again. Saw the rage in her being poured out as she finally killed her, then he saw her go to her knees on the ground and begin to sob, defeated, depleted, nothing of the fury and heartache left to give.

He'd gone to her then and told her that this was enough, that this was finished here and now.

She'd said yes and he'd held her and she'd clung to him right there in the middle of the road, sobbing into the hallow of his throat.

He'd held her and comforted her and found himself hoping that this was the end of it for her. That he wanted nothing more than for her to be ok after this, to not keep spiraling down in her anguish to maybe one day be nothing but the shell of the girl he'd come to care about.

_I care about her. _Dean thought. The moment the realization hit him he felt a wave of panic but quickly subdued it. It was ok to care about someone who wasn't your family. _Don't be a TOTAL ass, Dean. _

She'd cried for a long time and when she finally stopped he lifted her up and put her into the car. By the time he'd slid into the driver's seat next to her she'd already closed herself off. He tried speaking to her a few time on the drive back but she hadn't answered him and he left her alone.

Now, sitting at the window of the motel room, her just a few doors away he finally let himself be angry about her behavior toward him. Was she going to continue to be the broken soul she'd been? When was it going to stop if not tonight? What had he done wrong? He'd just tried to help her and he thought he had and she was shutting him out, again. As she'd done from the first time he'd ever met her.

How long was he going to stand for it? He'd let her do her thing because he'd always thought that whatever she'd decided to do to with her broken self was none of his business, that it didn't affect him and he should just let her be.

But it did affect him. Maybe not before but now for sure. Now that he realized that she was part of his life and that he'd allowed himself to care about her that it was very much his business and that he'd be damned if he let her continue to treat him this way.

He got up out of his chair and walked to the door. Only slightly aware of the fact that his father and brother looked up and watched him storm out into the rain again barefoot and walk toward her room.

When Dean walked out and all but slammed the door behind Sam watched him go. Confused as to what had happened with Rachel and almost sure that that's where his brother was headed.

"Ok Sammy, let's mind our business. Let's get some shut eye. You take bed by the window and I'll take the other one." Dad said.

"I'll take the couch Dad. Dean will need to sleep somewhere when he comes back." Sam argued.

Dad laughed softly and shook his head.

"Son, your brothers not coming back tonight." Dad said.

Rachel stood by the bed nearest the bathroom and sifted through the clothes she'd strewn from her duffle onto it. The room was dark save for the light coming from the partially open door of the bathroom behind her and the lightning that periodically flashed and shone through the window at the far side of the room through the slight part in the curtains.

She had the shower running and couldn't wait to step under the hot stream to warm her chilled skin, to wash away everything that had happened tonight. She would deal with the mentalness of it all tomorrow. Right now she just wanted to clean the gore off of herself, crawl under the covers and sleep for ten or twelve hours.

She stood in only her wet flannel shirt that came down to the middle of her thighs, having discarded all her other sopping wet clothes and ringing out her hair as best she could. In her hand she held a thick cotton sock and was looking for the other one when the front door opened and a still very wet Dean came through it without knocking.

She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. He was upset.

"Are you done?" He asked in a hard tone. Before she could answer he went on. "Are you done being dead while being alive? Are you done crying over your family that died doing something that we will all die young doing?"

He took a few steps toward her, the light from the bathroom illuminating his handsome features. The thunder and lightning from the storm matching the anger she felt rolling off of him. He continued as he closed the distance between them. "Are you done blaming yourself for something you couldn't have stopped? I want to know, Rachel. I want to know if your done being sorry for things out of your control but more than anything else, I want to know if your done pushing me away every second you get a chance to?"

He was face to face with her now. She looked up at him as he towered over her, his form powerful and demanding her attention. They stared at each other in silence, his questions still filling the air, her senses, her head.

She swallowed the lump in her throat that she didn't even realize had formed there and realized that for the first time she didn't feel any of the things he'd asked if she was going to let go of. It took tonight to realize that her grief was over. That she was free of it all. In that same second she also realized that being free of it meant she could allow herself to do something she'd wanted to do from the first time she laid eyes on him.

"I was just about to take a shower." She said. She saw the muscles in his jaw flex. "You should come."

They again just stared at one another, letting her invitation hang in the air between them. She saw the look in his eyes change from hard and angry to questioning and puzzled. He was confused and well he should be, but she hoped that he excepted because after all this time of wanting him and within the 20 seconds that she'd just let herself decide that having him finally was something she desperately wanted tonight, she felt a glowing ember in her belly and it began to spread. She remembered the familiar feeling instantly; desire.

"This is really what you want?" He asked.

His tone not accusing or harsh, but more of in the way of 'is this your grief still talking or do you really want me finally after all this time?' He was still looking out for her and still not willing to do anything that would hurt her further.

"I've wanted it for a very long time, Dean." She moved closer to him, stood on her tiptoes and claimed his mouth with hers.

It only took a second for him to kiss her back and when he did she felt the ember in her belly turn to fire. He encased her in the cage of his arms and pressed her up against him, his mouth now demanding more from her. She slid her arms around his neck and gave it, pushing her tongue into his mouth where it met his.

She eagerly pulled on it with her lips and he responded by pressing his mouth to hers more fully. She reached down and hooked the hem of his wet t-shirt with her fingers, pulling the fabric up over his torso and up his chest, she let the tips of her fingers brush the sensitive skin of his sides as she pushed the shirt up, wanting the most bare contact she could have with him at this moment, and was rewarded with a tiny shiver from him that she would have missed had his lips not been pressed against her own.

When the shirt could go no further he broke their kiss and raised his arms over his head to allow her to remove the shirt completely. She did, moving it up his muscled arms and over his head. He grabbed it and took it off the rest of the way, tossing it to the floor before turning his attention back to her.

He took her lips again, more gently this time as he unbuttoned the front of her flannel shirt while her hands went to the front of his jeans, brushing the already hard knot pressing against the denim as she unbuttoned then unzipped them.

Dean thought he would explode then and there when he felt her hand slip into the parted fabric of his jeans and begin to rub him over his underwear. He tensed and gave the tiniest of groans against her mouth at the sensation that shot through him. The reaction encouraged her because she closed her hand over him then and squeezed with just the right amount of pressure that sent a bolt of pleasure through him.

He kissed her harder; finally reaching the bottom button of the damn shirt she wore and pushed it off her shoulders to the floor. She was naked underneath and he pulled away from her and took as step back too finally look at what he'd been imagining all this time as well as to get rid of the jeans that he wore.

She was perfect in every way. Long, beautiful bare legs, sensuously flared hips that tapered to a flat belly and long torso that then bloomed out again to large, heavy breast tipped with darkish pink nipples which were already pearled into hard tips just aching for his mouth to close over one of them. Her dark hair, still damp and somewhat stringy, fell to her waist and teasingly brushed against her hips. Her sex was smooth and hairless, something he found maddeningly sexy. Just looking at her turned his desire for her up to a million. He tried to distract himself from the urge to slam her up against the wall and take her right now by struggling out of his wet jeans.

Rachel took in his reaction to seeing her naked and made a mental note of how hard he was holding himself back. The tease that she'd forgotten she was made a mental note to try and use that to her advantage later. She lost her train of thought completely when he finally got the jeans off and stood before her, naked as well.

He was just as beautiful as she'd thought he'd be. Perfectly toned muscle down his shoulders, arms and chest. Powerful thighs, a flat belly that shaped a V down to his groin and oh...waiting there was just what she'd imagined Dean Winchester would be in his all his glory. Fully erect, he was thick and long, curved up just a bit. The head was broad and glistened with a bit of moisture already at the tip.

Rachel looked at it without shame as he moved closer to her again and found herself a bit intimidated. Here was this very naked, very aroused man coming at her and for a moment she felt herself panic.

When he kissed her again the feeling melted away. When he put his arms around her and crushed her naked breasts up against the muscled wall of his chest she lost herself in her heady desire for him. When he reached down below her hips and lifted her up she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist.

He moved them into the bathroom toward the shower, never breaking their kiss. She held onto his shoulders for support and felt his hardness press against her inner thigh. She tilted her hips forward then back just a little bit, rubbing him against the soft skin there. He tightened his grip on her, letting her know that he felt it, liked it and that she should keep going. And she did right up until he moved the shower curtain and deposited them both under the hot spray.

He set her back on her feet then, still never parting from her mouth. Under the shower they stood, the steam enveloping them and the hot water erasing the cold rain, dirt and blood from their skin.

She once again closed her hand over him, this time nothing stood between them. She felt the hard ridge of his head and pinched the tip slightly between her thumb and forefingers, making him pull his mouth away from her and arch his neck back as a pleasurable moan escaped him. She took advantage of his head being thrown back like that and closed her mouth over the sensitive spot right above his collar bone.

He reacted as if he'd been electrified. A sharp intake of breath followed by a low grunt, his fingers curled and dug slightly into the small of her back where they'd been resting. She slid her hand down the length of him then back up. She did it again and he gave his hips a little push forward to encourage her.

He in turn slid one hand up and cupped one of her heavy breasts, feeling for her nipple and tweaking it just a bit as she had done to him. Without giving her a second to react he went a step further, he leaned down and closed his mouth over the tight bud. Rachel's whole body caught fire just then. Hot pleasure exploded in her stomach as he flicked his tongue over her nipple.

She arched her back and relished in the feeling. Back and forth he moved his tongue, occasional sucking just a bit. The sensation shot right down to her sex, making it wet and begin to throb just a bit, she felt her clit begin to engorge and she relished in the feeling. Denying herself so long and now finally allowing the pleasure to sweep over her was more then she could bear.

As if reading her thoughts Dean decided to push further. He pressed her back up against the wall of the shower and again lifted her up. Pinning her to the wall with his body, he reached down between them and slid his fingers over her now very wet pussy.

Rachel cried out at the contact but he silenced her by kissing her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and explored his mouth while his fingers explored her most intimate place. He moistened his fingers with her juices and slid along the cleft of her sex, rubbing her inner lips, circling the hard nub of her clit with the pad of his finger until she was whimpering against his mouth, then finally sliding two fingers into her as gently as he could.

She tore her mouth away from his and gasped for air. He kissed her neck and moved his fingers out ever so slightly before pushing them back in. Again and again he did this until she felt the buildup of pressure in her belly that meant she was close to going over the edge. But she didn't want it this way, she wanted to come with his cock buried deep inside her like she'd pictured over and over again, not his fingers.

"Dean, please." She hissed in his ear.

He needed nothing else. Hearing his name on her lips like that in the throes of passion made him have to have her this second. He restrained himself enough to pull away from her and shut the water off. He stepped out of the stall and held her hand as she did the same.

Her naked body glistened with water, beads of it dripped down her belly and thighs and he would have done anything to just stop for a second and lap any one of them off of her beautiful dusky skin with his tongue, suck the water off of one of those nipples and flick his tongue over it again, but he held back and let her take his hand and lead him back into the bedroom.

He watched the two perfect globes of her ass move as she walked to the far side of the room to the bed that wasn't strewn with her clothes. Narrow waist with the tribal tattoo scrolled across it just above the two back dimples there, the tips of her wet hair skimming the top of her hips. God, he could die right now.

On their way he made her pause for a second so he could fish his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans that lay crumpled on the floor, he got it, opened it and pulled out three foil squares before dropping the wallet to the floor. He laid them on the dresser before reaching for her again. They encircled their arms around each other and once again sought each other's lips.

He laid her down gently on the mattress and eased himself on top of her, he braced himself on his elbows so as not burden her with his full weight but she clutched him and pulled him down, wanting to feel the full expanse of his body against hers.

The rain pounded against the window outside, the lightning crashed and the thunder rumbled as they kissed, touched and explored each other's bodies.

Rachel ran her hands down his muscular back to his hips, where she encouraged him to flex them and rub his still hard cock against her thigh. He did and she felt herself grow wetter and more ready for him as the thick expanse of him slid along her skin.

Dean planted tiny kisses along her jaw line, down the soft, sensitive skin of her neck, he brought both hands up to cupped a breasts in each of them, trailing his tongue down the valley between them then latching onto one of her nipples and giving it the attention he wasn't able to in the shower.

He sucked at it, licked it, bit gently with teeth then went back to sucking slowly. All the time pushing, pushing, pushing his rock hard erection against her thigh, the friction driving him insane and making him want to plunge into her more and more every second. But he held back, he'd wanted this for so long he was determined not to rush it.

Dean moved to her other nipple, splaying his fingers against her ribcage as he did. She ran her hands down his arms, savoring the feeling of his bunched muscles under her fingertips, marveling at the complete male beauty that was him. What was more was just the felling of his basic human contact after denying herself the pleasure of it for so long. Just felling his skin against hers, his mouth on her, the heady smell of him that filled her senses was Heaven in itself.

She opened her legs brought her knees up, clutching his hips with them and shifting his hardness to rest right in the crook of her thigh next to her very wet pussy, his hips jerked a little quicker at being so close to her and she in turn wiggled a little to add to the friction of it.

He moved his hands down to her hips and held her still as he pushed against her as hard as he could, warning her that she needed to stop her teasing before he lost control and drove into her without any thought of protection.

She stopped but smiled inwardly at her ability to apparently send him over the edge.

He leaned up and sat back on his haunches, grabbing one of the foil packets from the dresser and tearing it open with his teeth. If he didn't get inside her right now he was going to die. He looked down at her where she lay, her thighs over his, open so he could see the glistening of her sex and the small nub of her clit peeking out between her small lips, God he wanted to fuck her so bad.

He forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand and pulled out the small latex ring from the opened packet. He rolled it down over himself while pinching the tip all the way to the base of his cock. He was ready, she was ready, it was time.

She coaxed him back down onto her with her arms open and he again leaned down over her, this time bracing himself up, he wanted to see her face when he pushed inside her.

He reached down between then and guided the head of his cock to her opening, he wanted to bad just to push forward violently but me made himself go slow and ease his way in.

Rachel braced herself as Dean pushed his hips forward, sliding his big, thick cock up into her tight opening. The sensation of being stretched by him was maddening and she dug her nails into his shoulders and tightly shut her eyes against deep pleasure that rolled across her whole body as he gave one quick thrust and buried himself inside her fully.

For a few seconds he stood motionless, giving her time to adjust to him and savoring the feeling of her tight wetness engulfing him, squeezing him perfectly.

She arched against him sweetly and he began to move, pulling out of her half way and then slowly easing back in all the way. She reacted with a catch of her breath and by letting a soft moan escape her lips.

He pulled out again and pushed back in, a little harder this time. Heat spread through his groin and up into his belly. She felt so amazing.

They began to move together, flexing their hips in unison against each other, dancing the most primal of dances with the steady drum of the rain and sound of the thunder as their music.

At her body's command Dean quickened his pace, pulling out further and pushing back in harder, her hips lifted off the bed, pushing against him, begging for more. He gave it, pounding into her now, the pull of her pussy hot, demanding that his cock fuck her harder, harder, then harder still. Her big breast swaying up and down with each of his powerful thrusts.

He slid his hand down and his thumb found her clit, he pressed on it and began to move it in circles against the tiny nub. Her whole body electrified at the contact, she cried out, calling his name and God's at the same time.

Rachel felt each stroke of Dean's cock in her belly, the sweetness of her orgasm began to build there and she rode the wave up as fingered her clit and pounded into her pussy at the same time.

Up up and up again until she could take no more, the pleasure building in her pussy until with one final stroke of his thumb and one more push of his cock into her, her whole universe exploded into a million tiny stars and she was raking her nails down his back and crying out.

Dean felt her spasm around him and he could take no more. With a low growl in the back of his throat he thrust into her twice more and felt his own orgasm rock his whole body. His hot come shot out of him as his cock spasmed in time with her. He lowered his head into the crook of her neck and bit his lip against the assault of sensations. He felt her arms encircle him and hold him as he waited for the ejaculation to finish. It took several agonizingly sweet seconds for it to begin to subside, his whole body twitched with the power of it as he came down and he felt his heart pounding in his chest.

When it was over and he had control of himself again, he raised his head and looked down at Rachel. She looked up at him with those beautiful green eyes of hers and gave him a small smile.

He returned it and leaned down to kiss her again. This kiss was sweeter than any they'd shared in this room up until now. Soft, caressing, gentle.

He sat up and pulled the condom off of his how shrinking self, tied the end in a knot and dropped the whole thing into a waste basket by the bed. He then shifted to Rachel's side and stretched out next to her, she pulled the coverlet at the end of the bed over them both and he wrapped her in his arms.

They lay there in each others arms, not saying a word, just holding one another, their legs entangled under the covers, kissing softly every now and then, running their hands over each other's arms, linking their fingers, unlinking their fingers. Their eyes saying to each other what they didn't say in words, that it had definitely been worth the wait.

It wasn't long before the sound of the rain lulled them both to sleep, still wrapped up in one another.


	11. Chapter 11

Rachel woke hours later. The rain had stopped, no sound of it pounding on the window anymore. Not sure what pulled her from her sleep if it hadn't been noise; she opened her eyes and in the dark was able to make out the outline of the figure laying next her. No, not lying next to her. Her body was pressed against the length of his under the covers, one of his arms was wrapped around her and her head was lying on his shoulder. One of her hands rested on his chest and she could feel that hand rising and falling with every slow and even breath he took in his sleep. Dean.

The memory of the two of them together came back to her just then and she sighed inwardly. They'd finally given in to each other and she'd invited him to spend the night with her. Their passion had been powerful to say the least.

She pushed the grogginess from her mind and thought about the position she was in right now. Dean Winchester was in her bed. She waited for the guilt. She waited for the alarm to sound that she'd done something terribly wrong. She waited for the feeling of "Oh my God, what have I done?" to envelop her. None of that happened.

Instead she just felt at peace. Comforted by the strong arm encasing her, warm from his body heat, and content enough to close her eyes and drift back off to sleep.

Her last thoughts before rejoining Dean in slumber were that she felt like herself again after such a long time of self punishment, and that in the morning it would be time to do something that was long overdue.

Dean opened his eyes to the sun that peered through the curtain. It was so bright it was blinding and he lifted a hand to shield his eyes. His mind woke enough to realize he was lying on a soft mattress and that he was naked under the covers. A second later he remembered why and turned his head to seek Rachel.

She was out of bed, fully dressed in a pair of worn jeans, a black t-shirt and a faded denim jacket. Her hair was loose and pushed back from her face with thin black head band. She was standing by the other bed in the room, putting toiletries into a canvas knapsack. She felt his eyes on her and turned to look at him. She smiled.

"Hey. I'm sorry, did I wake you?" She said.

"No. What time is it?" He asked.

"Just about 8 o'clock." She said.

Dean sat up and surveyed the room. Her duffle bag was gone and the keys to her car were lying on the small table by the window along with 2 knives he knew she kept tucked into her shoes. She was leaving.

"Going somewhere?" He asked.

She didn't answer but instead finished her task and tied the knapsack up. She was avoiding the question.

"Rachel?" He pressed.

She looked up finally and met his eyes. Her expression told him he was right. She walked back to the bed they had shared the night before and sat on the edge facing him. She looked guilty.

"I was going to wake you up before I went, I swear." She said.

"Where you going, Rach?" He asked and tried to push away the slightly sad feeling at the fact that she had just confirmed that she was leaving.

Her face got serious. She looked soulfully into his eyes.

"Home. I'm going home, Dean." She said.

He looked at her and let that sink in for a moment before speaking again.

"Home?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's time I think." She confirmed.

Dean wasn't sure what to make of it. He wasn't sure why he felt…..loss. To give him a moment to think about it and not just stare at her blankly the way he was now, he pushed the covers aside and got out of the bed. Naked, aware that she was looking at his bare ass the whole time, he made his way to his jeans that still lay crumpled on the floor where he'd left them last night. They were still damp from the rain but dry enough to pull them on which he did. He buttoned them and pulled the zipper up before turning to her again. She was still sitting on the edge of the bed but turned to face him.

"Good." He said. "It's definitely about time. No one should be away from their family for so long."

She gave him a half-smile from the bed, the gesture not quite touching her eyes.

"You would think that." She said.

He looked at her questioningly.

"Family's very important to you Dean." She clarified. "And I'm glad that you have the gun now to take care of your family."

Silence surrounded them just them. He didn't know what to say to her and she apparently didn't know what to say to him either.

"I should go." She said after a few tense seconds rising from the bed and crossing over to get her knap sack.

"Don't go." He said the words before he could stop himself.

She turned to face him, Her eyes impossibly green and for a second his mind flashed to them looking at him last night, dark with passion. She said nothing but waited for him to continue.

"Hunt the demon with us. We're so close. And we have the Colt now, we could use you." He said.

He saw her deflate just a tiny bit. Was she hoping that he would say that he wanted her to stay because of what happened between them last night? _Sorry babe, you're not just some chick and definitely not someone I would say good-bye to in the morning and never see again. But it ain't like that. _He said to himself. Why he felt the need to confirm this to himself in his head instead of to her he wasn't sure, but the thought made him feel just a little better. He wished he knew why.

"No." She said.

"No?" He asked.

"It's not my place Dean and you know that." She crossed over to him and tilted her head to be able to look into his eyes. "Your family has been hunting this thing forever and you Winchesters need to finish it. JUST you Winchesters. I would get in the way."

He knew she was right. And he knew it was crazy to suggest such a thing. This fight was very personal and he, his brother and his father needed to finish this alone. But he still couldn't shake the fact that her leaving wasn't sitting right with him.

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Was all he said to her. "But still, why go home now? Was it because of last night?"

She got a mischievous twinkle in her eyes just then and she gave him a genuine half smile this time.

"Don't flatter yourself. " She said.

He wrapped his arms around her then, the cold metal of the buttons of her jacket pressing into his bare skin. She came willingly and conformed herself to his body.

"You flatter me then." He said looking down at her.

"Ok, last night was everything I thought it would be." She said. "You live up to the expectations you give."

"Well, you made me chase it long enough. It was the least I can do." He said.

"Are you always this cocky with your women in the morning?" She asked.

"No." He answered. "Only the ones that were worth the wait."

Again they stared at one another, this silence much more comfortable then the last. He lowered his head and kissed her then. Softly, gently.

When they pulled apart they pressed their foreheads against one another and just stood there that way for a while. Neither of them wanting to let the other go just yet.

"Go get the bastard." She said.

"I'm going to try." He said.

She tilted her head back again and looked up at him.

"If you survive it come find me ok?" She said.

He looked at her and knew that this was their way of saying goodbye. Maybe for the last time.

"Yeah." He said in barely a whisper.

She pulled out of his arms them. She picked up the knap sack from the bed and shouldered it. Then she walked to the door, grabbed her knives and keys from the table, opened the door and turned back for one final look at him.

The bright morning sun shone on her black hair and she looked like a dark angel looking back at him.

She offered him one final small smile, which he returned, and then she was gone.

Back in his father's room, Sam gave him a knowing look but said nothing. Which he was lucky for because the way Dean felt right now he could have punched Sam in the face for any kind of tease he had going on in his brain right now.

"Alright boys here's the deal." Dad said as if his son hadn't just walked in the room after spending the night with a girl. He didn't even ask where Rachel was.

He and Sam fell into line before him and Dad started talking about how the two of them had disobeyed his orders last night. Dean felt snarky enough at the moment that he gave his father a retort about saving his ass. To his surprise his father agreed with him.

Dad also began to say that he thought they were right about being stronger as a family and Dean forced himself to push Rachel from his mind. He had bigger things to worry about right now and he couldn't let….whatever this was that he was feeling right now, get in the way of that. So he allowed Dad's words to envelope him and take him into the task they now faced.

Finally Dad said that the thing to do was go after this bastard together, as a family.

He and Sam answered him with a unified "Yes, Sir."


End file.
